A Harsh Reality
by Fantasy Cat
Summary: FINISHED Hiatus fic!  Walter finds a way to save both worlds, but it requires something from Peter and Olivia that both are reluctant to do given the state of things.  Can they set aside their woes and work together before it's too late?  Post Marionette
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my guilty pleasure/semi theory/Winter Hiatus fic. You will know the "guilty pleasure" and "semi theory" aspects of this fic by the end of this chap. I hope to God I can make this story short and finished before the show comes back on as I have a lot of stuff on my plate right now.**

**Summary: Walter may have finally found a way to save both worlds but it will require something from both Peter and Olivia that they're reluctant to do given the current status of their partnership. Can they set their woes aside and do what must be done before it's too late?**

**Disclaimer: I dont own Fringe or the characters or it's move to Fridays beginning Jan 21st (just making sure you all knew that!)**

* * *

Olivia hates herself.

She may have been the Olivia that Peter had been drawn and attracted to in the beginning, but she was not the Olivia that Peter loved. That was the only conclusion she came to when the truth came out and all of her hopes and dreams for the two of them while trapped on the other side were crushed.

Peter knew this too…the moment he had learned that he had the wrong Olivia, he knew that things were never going to be the same again for either of them, no matter how badly deep down they both wanted it.

But life goes on…there was still two worlds to save and a war to stop and both of them knew that they couldn't let their anger, their bitterness, and their heartbreak get in the way of all of that…

…not until the war was over anyway.

Both Peter and Olivia shared the same belief that there was hope for both universes to be saved and finally be at peace. But it would require the mad genius skills of Walter to determine how this could be accomplished. So for weeks on end, Walter went to work on about a hundred different theories until finally he found one…so simple and yet so logical.

"I found a way to do it," said Walter. "I've found a way to restore balance to both universes."

"You did?" asked Peter. "And it's doable?"

Astrid was a bit worried. "I dunno if it's a good idea to tell them what you told me, Walter."

"I don't think that really matters," said Olivia. "At this point any idea is worth considering."

"Wonderful," said Walter. "Now then, my theory is that if the events in the parallel universe were caused by…my crossing over and saving Peter, then it could mean that the universe itself could be seen as something similar to how the human body functions. The human body when in contact with a foreign substance will either treat it as something that is either helpful or harmful. When I crossed over for Peter, my body and my clothing coming in contact with the parallel universe caused a reaction by the universe itself. I have sickened it…I made our universe and everything within it a poison to the other, and those who have crossed over along afterwards (including our Belly and Agent Dunham) may have only added to that. The only way to remedy the situation is to make the parallel universe able to accept this supposedly contaminated universe as an acceptable part of its own."

"So that means we have to create some kind of link for it?"

"Yes, son… and it can only be achieved with a living thing from the other side. Preferably one who is here now and can cooperate with the goal at hand."

"Me then huh?" Peter sighed. He didn't seem all that surprised. "So what exactly do I have to do? You gonna inject with something?"

"No…you have to merge with a part of this universe in a permanent way… one that cannot be separated once formed. And the only way to do that Peter, is through a definite living merger."

"I don't get it," said Peter.

Walter was getting nervous. "It's…a bit…unusual but highly practical. I understand you and Agent Dunham are currently not on best of terms…but I would nominate her…to create the other half. I believe she's the best candidate for it."

"Walter?" Olivia was getting frustrated. "What are you talking about? What do you want Peter and me to do?"

"He needs you and Olivia to make a baby."

The room fell dead silent as all eyes turned to Astrid.

She just shrugged at them. "Well...somebody had to say it."


	2. Chapter 2

The theory made everyone speechless.

Peter put his hands to his face thinking this must be some cruel and twisted attempt by his father to make him patch things up with Olivia…when they clearly weren't in a position to be together.

To make a baby with Olivia after everything that happened, after everything that she said to him on the night of Barret's arrest, was the worst form of torture for the both of them. He couldn't say anything. He wouldn't even know what to say.

"Walter," said Olivia. "Does it have to be Peter AND me?"

"Well, technically," explained Walter. "Peter could create the merger with any woman so long as they are from this side, but it wont be enough to create a universally mixed child. It needs some sort of power source to react with the other world. It's quite possible that we might be able to use the Cortexiphan in Agent Dunham's bloodstream to kick-start the merger."

Olivia's face was turning red, flushing at the very thought. If she were to carry Peter's child, then how exactly were they…

She snapped back to reality. "Walter. You have to find another way. I…don't think I can do this."

"This might be the only way. Plus time is short, my dear. The Second Wave from the other side could begin any day now."

"Well then find another way!" Olivia turned and went straight into her office to be in her solitude.

When the dust settled, Peter finally followed Olivia into her office.

"I'm not liking this anymore than you are," he said. "But Walter's right. I don't think we have any other choice."

"Excuse me?" said Olivia.

"What? I thought you wanted this…I mean…I thought you wanted to save both universes."

"I do, Peter. But didn't you hear what Walter said? He said YOU have to be the one to create the merger, not me. You're the one from the other universe. So you're the only one who can make the link."

"But he said…"

"Peter, your father only nominated me because I'm here. There's nothing else more to that."

"But what if he's right, Olivia? I mean you're…"

"I'm what, Peter? The one with Cortexiphan? I can't be the one to do this."

"Well, I can't just go out there and get someone pregnant. That wouldn't be right!"

"Well, this isn't right either, Peter. But maybe…" Olivia thought. "Suppose I have it done artificially…it would still be a merger right?"

"Wait a second," said Peter. "So now you do **want** to do this, unless it's done your way?"

"You don't understand, Peter."

"No, I do understand," he said. "I thought you were the Olivia Dunham who would do anything to save everyone. I only assumed that you would do this because you would want to save the world…no matter what it took. I thought I knew you."

Olivia spat "You thought you knew me? That's a lot coming from someone who had to be told by a stranger she was with the wrong Olivia Dunham for two months!"

"Well how else am I supposed to do this, Olivia?"

"Let's see," Olivia thought. "The current human population of the world right now is about…6-7 billion and the gender ratio is about even. So I say you have around 3 billion options to choose from to help you save both universes, Peter." Olivia grabbed her coat. "…or better yet, donate to a sperm bank."

Olivia slammed the door as she angrily left the lab. She got up to the ground floor and just broke down. She knew she offended Peter by rejecting the plan in the way that she did but her choice was for them. She knew there would be far too many emotional consequences if she were to actually…

But Olivia knew, it couldn't be her. It would be too much for the both of them. It would be better in the end for Peter to find someone else to help him save both worlds…someone better than her.

She was unaware that Peter was just as upset and frustrated knowing it was his fault that Olivia did not want to go through with the plan, even if it was the only way.

He would have to rely on Walter find another way now.


	3. Chapter 3

Walter was insistent that his plan was their best bet to end the war and save millions of lives on both sides. And as much as Astrid hated to admit it, it was a logical and very possible plan that could come to fruition…if only Peter and Olivia would agree to it.

So for days on end, Walter continued to pester Peter and Olivia.

"But it should be more comfortable for the two of you to do it this time," Walter argued. "At least our Agent Dunham doesn't have an evil vagenda up her sleeve."

"Please stop talking, Walter."

But it was clear that no matter how hard Peter tried to shut Walter up, it only made him all the more persistent.

And then finally, Olivia worst fear came true. Walter called Broyles and went on about his plan leaving no minor or explicit detail behind.

It was enough to warrant a surprise visit to the lab.

"Bishop, are you absolutely sure there is no other alternative?"

"Of course I do," said Walter. "Why won't anyone take me seriously on this matter just because my son and Agent Dunham…"

"But that's exactly the point," said Broyles. "Your proposal would require Agent Dunham to be pulled out of the field for a matter of months. That's a huge risk we're taking considering what we're up against. We need everyone on our side to fight when it's time."

Olivia felt good about Broyles taking her side on this matter.

"However…" said Broyles. "The other side now has their own supply of Cortexiphan that was taken from her. If they become successful in harnessing it, then we won't have as much time as we thought. How much time do you think it will be before they figure out how to use it?"

"Well I would assume if Walternate is as brilliant as me…then, very soon."

"And our other options are limited." Broyles sighed. "I'll get back to you on this."

He walked out of the lab and Olivia quickly followed him.

"Wait a second!" she said. "You're not actually suggesting that this is our only option."

"I wasn't suggesting anything," said Broyles. "I'm only looking to see what can be done."

"But I can't do this."

"Agent Dunham, I completely understand that this is not a decision for you to tread lightly. No one is forcing you to do this, but I suggest you think thoroughly about what you want to do. It will still be your decision regardless."

Olivia looked down. "I know, but I'm feeling really trapped here."

"Just think about your options," he said. "And whatever you decide to do, I will see to it that the proper accommodations be made for you."

Olivia could only mutter a "thank you" as Broyles left.

…

Olivia had been avoiding conversation with Peter long before Walter announced his plan. But now it was just getting harder. She hated the pressure that Walter was giving her. She hated it because she was starting to think this was her only choice. The other side had Cortexiphan and it was only a matter of time before Walternate crossed over with armies at the tow.

"Dammit." Olivia checked her phone and called Peter. Even a remote phone call relating to work was difficult to have with him now. "We've got a situation."

"A situation? You mean a case, right?"

Olivia corrected herself. "Yes, I mean…I dunno. Broyles says it's urgent."

The trio headed to the docks to meet with Broyles. He had gotten a report that another group of deceased shape-shifter embryos had been found, along with a few dead civilians.

"It's not like the last time," said Broyles. "The dead in this case were strangled."

Walter checked the insides of the two dead bodies and found the shapeshifter marks.

"They're coming in droves now," said Peter.

"If anything," Broyles suspected. "This is going to be the norm."

Walter pulled out a postcard from the front pocket of one of the dead. "Oh look, this man wrote a note for Agent Dunham. The handwriting looks awfully familiar though."

"Let me see that." Olivia just grabbed the postcard. The picture of the postcard had the White House in what looked like a wreckage of flames and then, in bold print, were the words _'Never Forget'_.

She turned the card over.

_'To Olivia Dunham: Thank you contributing to our success. It was fortunate for you that we did not have to cut out your brain after all. However you are still Alternate Enemy #1. See you in the Second Wave. -Walter Bishop, Secretary of Defense.'_

Olivia crumpled the postcard up. The bastard knew where to leave the message for Olivia to find.

Everything was now happening faster than Olivia Dunham wanted them to.

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_**Lemme just say I am floored by the amount of story alerts and reviews for a fic premiere. Thank you everyone. Please keep up the love.**_


	4. Chapter 4

With impending doom closer than ever before, Olivia was thankful that she had moved to a different apartment. It wasn't as nice or big as her old place because she needed the money to replace everything in her life that she now felt was contaminated: new clothes, new food, new bed. If only she had been able to trade in her car.

It wasn't a very nice neighborhood either. She could hear police sirens outside her door every night and she knew that there were drug dealers who worked just a few blocks away. But Olivia was so use to living the rough life and to not sleeping well at night. This made her a very unhappy camper when she got a knock on her door at 2 a.m.

She opened the door expecting something job related…

…instead she found Sam Weiss.

"Dunham," he smiled. "Thought you could hide from me?"

Olivia groaned. "Are you going to make unannounced house calls now? And how did you know where I moved to?"

"I just put some thought into everything you went through while you were 'over there' and then I added the pieces together. It makes this place the most logical choice." Sam was carrying a giant fern and placed it on her coffee table. "Hope you enjoy your housewarming present." He noticed all the various shopping bags on the sofas. "Just as I thought. Replacing every little detail of your life and yet you still have your job."

"My job is too important for me to give up."

"I thought so," said Sam. "In the mood for another game?"

Olivia clearly wasn't but decided to play anyway. This time they were playing Jenga and Olivia was being far too hesitant with holding the tower together and her turns took 3x as long as Sam's.

"Mighty cautious, Sugar Puff. I see the headaches are gone."

"Yeah," said Olivia. "I think I've gotten use to winding up in places where I don't belong."

"Is that why you moved out of your old place?"

Olivia nodded.

"Though I'm thinking…," said Sam. "You've got yourself another dilemma. It's not another secret, is it?"

"No." Olivia sighed. "This is something more complicated than that."

Sam relaxed himself into his seat. "Lay it on me if you must."

Olivia felt hesitant about telling Sam Weiss everything. It was no coincidence that he was here tonight. He knew something would be up with her and she wanted to make sure he was giving her the right advice instead of screwing around with her mind…although it did seem to help her everytime.

"I've been given an…opportunity to finally share something with someone…someone I lost when I was over there. But it's not for the reason that it should've been. It's more of a life-or-death obligation now…"

"I see…" said Sam. "You know, Princess. I've gone through the classic cycle of the breakup before."

Olivia seemed surprised at this. "Really?"

"Yeah. But I was the one who had to call it off everytime."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But that's not important. The thing is that every time I had to leave someone, they always had something to give me. And…you know I really didn't want to take it from them. I didn't want the reminder of breaking a few hearts. I still took it though."

"Well, it would've been rude not to take it."

"Nah, that wasn't it," said Sam. "I take them because somewhere along the line every single item that was ever given to me turned out to be useful. Once someone gave me a Swiss Army Knife. It saved my ass a couple of times since then. Nobody takes anything just to be nice. They do it because in the back of their mind, they're thinking this might be worth it someday."

Olivia smirked. "This is definitely not a Swiss Army Knife I am talking about here."

"Well it's always the very thing you don't want to have that always turns out to be the very thing you need."

"Okay, now you're just being cryptic."

"Am I? You're an FBI Agent. You have to make the choices you don't want to take all the time, but for the most part, it pays off, doesn't it? Okay, I get the stress that goes with the job. So tell me. How did you get into the business of beating up the bad guys?"

"I…" Olivia had to stop herself. There was no way she was going to go into detail about the whole business with her stepfather. "I did something that was bad…but I never regretted it. I wanted to take that action and this job makes me feel good that I can do that all the time. It doesn't always work out."

"But you did it because you wanted it to be worth it. By the way it's still your turn. I see you eyeing that side block, fifth from the bottom."

"It doesn't matter which block I choose. It's already close to coming down."

"You never know. You're a person who expects payoff on the job. Let's see you in action."

Olivia took a deep breath and took the block she had been eyeing and placed it on top. To her shock the tower still stood even though there was very little left to support it.

"My turn," said Sam. He pulled out a block and the tower instantly collapsed. "See, you won."

…

As the days went by Olivia, Peter, and Walter were up to their knees in new shapeshifter sightings. They destroyed as many embryos as they could but it became difficult to identify and track all of them down and more dead were piling up in the process. She carefully watched Peter as he was busy shifting through file boxes in another room, likely to avoid her. Then she went out into the lab where Walter was fiddling with a body he wanted for examination.

"Walter?" Olivia was careful to keep her voice down. "Can I talk to you before Astrid comes back with lunch?"

"The distraction is greatly needed," said Walter. "I can't function without my funnel cakes."

"Okay but we need to keep this quiet." She sighed. "I've thought about it…and…I'll do it."

Walter's confused look slowly turned into a smile. "You'll carry Peter's child? That's wonderful, Agent Dunham."

"There's just a couple of conditions," she said. "I want to do artificial insemination."

Walter frowned in disappointment. "Are you sure, Agent Dunham?"

"All I know is this has to be done, but I can't take it that far…not with Peter." She couldn't believe she just said that to Walter.

"Yes, I suppose it could be done that way. What is the other condition?"

She looked around and made sure no one else but Walter was around to hear. "Peter can't know…for now."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey guys," greeted Astrid as she entered the lab. "What's going on?"

"Olivia's agreed to have my grandchild!"

"Walter! Shh!" Olivia quickly covered his mouth. "I thought I told you that Peter can't know. So please, I want to do this quietly."

"Well," said Astrid. "How exactly are you going to get Peter's…stuff, if you don't want him to know about it? Plus you're a skinny woman, Olivia. That baby's gonna show up on his radar pretty quick."

"Oh, it shouldn't be a problem at all," said Walter. "I already have a good supply that's cryogenically frozen."

"You do?" asked Olivia. "How did you get it?"

"Well, ever since getting out of St. Claire's and seeing Peter again, I've been pleading with him to provide for me some of his sperm for testing. But he has refused me every time. I just don't understand what is wrong with a father asking for his son to give him his seed!"

"Um…"

"But then a couple of months ago, while you were still trapped on the other side, Peter was dating that skank that resembled you…" Walter stopped. "Did I offend you, Agent Dunham?"

She was honestly upset to see, hear, or know any reminders of Peter being with the other, better, her. "It's fine. Go on."

"...I also came into a great deal of wealth when I inherited Massive Dynamic from poor Belly. And Peter, he came to me wanting to give…that woman…some kind of present. He wanted to attend some sort of music show…"

Astrid looked appalled. "Oh god, Walter. You paid Peter to give you his sperm? That is just wrong."

Olivia tried to hold in her disgust as well. But this was Walter. "So where is it now?"

"Oh the sperm. It should be safely stored by my new office at Massive Dynamic."

"Okay," said Olivia. "I can go to New York and have the procedure done there. But you two need to keep quiet. I can't deal with Peter knowing that I'm…"

Walter frowned. "That last time I kept a secret from my son, I almost lost him."

"I know. But it's okay, Walter. He'll only be angry with me. It's for the best."

"And what are you going to do when you start to show?" asked Astrid.

"I'll think of something when it happens."

At that moment Peter came out of the office and was a bit disturbed by the fact that Olivia, Walter, and Astrid were standing very close to each other and conversing.

"Peter?"

"Forget it, Walter," he said. "I don't even want to know what any of you were talking about."

Olivia quietly gave a sigh of relief.

…

She nervously walked into Massive Dynamic, with no clue as to how she was going to explain to Nina Sharp what she needed done. But to her surprise, the assistant at the front desk told Olivia that Nina was expecting her and she took Olivia to her office.

"Walter told me everything in explicit detail," she said. "I'm very sorry about what happened to you over there, as well as what happened between you and Peter."

"Thanks…I guess…"

"Is Peter not here with you?"

Olivia sighed. "He doesn't know I'm doing this."

"I see. Shall I call Brandon and have him prepare for the procedure?"

But Olivia couldn't help but think about the horrid experience she had with Brandon's alter while on the other side. "If you could. I'd rather have someone else do this."

Nina complied and the next thing Olivia knew, she was in a room with two doctors she had never met before but were knowledgeable in artificial insemination. The last thing Olivia saw before lying down was the large tube that was labeled 'Peter' in Walter Bishop's handwriting.

In the back of her mind, there was a voice screaming to turn back. This wasn't just any baby she would be carrying. She was taking in a part of the man who was causing her all of this pain and heartbreak. If she carried the baby to term, what then? Would she be able to look at the child without thinking about Peter? Maybe if she got lucky, the baby would resemble her more than it would him. But she feared the reminder would always be there.

And she didn't even know what would be done with the baby after it's born.

"Finished," said the doctor. "I'd give it about one to two weeks. You can either come back here or get a pregnancy test to get your results."

"I'll do it myself, thanks."

Olivia nervously walked out of Massive Dynamic with about a thousand different thoughts running through her head.

She then returned to the lab and Peter approached her. She was worried that she was busted.

"Walter says he might've found another way."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he said. "So I guess we've been spared some discomfort, haven't we?"

"Yeah." Olivia quietly turned away with the guilt and burden of a new secret she was keeping now heavier than the baby she was about to carry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Time is gonna start speeding up in this story starting in this chapter but hang in there. That is just how the story goes.**

* * *

Olivia originally intended to get her first test done in one week but the scores of dead continue to pile up. Many long nights were spent into the next week trying to find a pattern to all of the victims.

It was finally about 3 weeks after did she finally have the courage to take that long walk to the convenience store near her apartment for the pregnancy test.

"Good luck," said the clerk.

'_Yeah,'_ thought Olivia. _'This whole universe is going to need it.'_

An hour later Olivia was staring at the two dreadful pink lines from the stick in her hands. She didn't know whether to cry or give a sigh of relief.

She silently pleaded. "Please, let this be worth it."

…

Astrid was the only one she told. She didn't trust Walter, who was already excited at the prospect of a grandchild, to keep the secret for very long.

"I know I shouldn't ask this…" said Astrid. "But don't you think Peter has a right to know?"

"It's not that simple," said Olivia.

"Okay…what's not simple?"

"Just everything. He already has enough on his plate with his real father trying to wipe out this universe by putting him in a machine. I can't give him more reason to worry."

"Or you."

Olivia sighed. "I just have to hold out for the next nine months or so. I know I'll have to tell Broyles. But I don't trust Walter."

Astrid became sympathetic. "Well, I guess we can keep Walter hanging without him knowing. Every time I take him for a drive and he asks me how long till we get there, I tell him 5 minutes about 3 times an hour and he buys it every time."

There was knock at the door and Broyles walked into the break room. "Agents, we have another group of dead."

…

With every new group of dead found in the weeks that followed, there were more signs of shapeshifter embryos. Olivia was once again shifting through files of the victims when she finally felt the onslaught of morning sickness for the first time. She managed to casually run to the bathroom to puke and make it back without anyone being suspicious.

But Peter had to be a wisecrack like always. "You look like crap."

"Whatever," she said.

"Whatever?" Peter laughed. "In all the years I've known you, I've never heard you say 'whatever'. It's just…" He stopped himself. "Never mind."

Olivia rolled her eyes at him. _'There he goes again thinking he knows me.'_ Her thoughts were such that Olivia was starting to believe that her hormones really were starting to get nasty.

She got back to her work and soon the wheels in her head started turning. She immediately called Broyles. "Sir, I think I've found your connection. You know how all the deaths have either involved authority figures or employers of transportation companies."

Broyles replied. "Yes?"

"I think they're slowly infiltrating our universe from the inside."

"If they're targeting authority...that could be a number of people: the FBI, the president of the United States. If they take our strongest forces out from under us, they could have a coup staged in time to roll out the red carpet for the other side. It's going to be impossible to sort out the targeted victims from our potential suspects."

"We have to try." Olivia picked up one file. "We might have a lead on where they'll strike next."

…

Olivia's snoop-work led the Fringe team to the Norfolk Air Base in Virginia. It took even more weeks convincing the military that there might be potential spies within their network and the only way to determine them was through a series of blood tests.

But the blood testing was merely a rouse to determine who was human and who was a shapeshifter.

"Got any mercury samples, yet?"

"Not yet, Agent Dunham," said Walter. "Oh by the way, how did it go? Did you get your pregnancy results?"

"Not yet," she bluffed. "But I'll let you know."

Olivia left the little trailer they were working out of and made another quick trip to dispose of her breakfast. She went over to Peter who was continuing to draw out blood from every soldier that was in line. "This should be the last of the guys," he said. "They made sure every single person from the base was here to do this."

But as Olivia looked out near the back of the line, she saw one pilot having an argument with his commanding officer. The man was trying to talk his way out of doing the blood test.

She approached the bickering soldiers with great suspicion. "Excuse me."

But then from out of nowhere, the pilot pulled out a strange device and shot lasers at his commanding officer, killing him. He then ran like a deer.

Olivia pursued.

Even with all the chaos of the soldiers and alarms going off, Olivia was getting close to catching the soldier. She could even hear him yelling into a device in his ear. "This is Dalmer. My cover's been blown. Being pursued by Alternate Enemy #1!"

Dalmer was running towards a plane that was sitting on the runway but Olivia was not far behind. A jeep was speeding towards their direction and at the right moment, Dalmer leapt onto the wing of the plane, ran across it, and jumped straight into the back of the passing jeep comfortably getting in.

Olivia stopped running and aimed her gun at the charging jeep.

But she didn't stop soon enough, and she found herself hitting the ground hard, blacking out.


	7. Chapter 7

"Olivia? Livia, can you hear me?"

She fought to open her eyes but it was a failing battle. Her mind was so jumbled, Olivia didn't know what to do, but she had to try something: moving…speaking…anything.

"Don't move! The ambulance is coming. Just hang on."

She recognized the voice as Peter's but beyond that, everything else was a blur. For one brief moment, Olivia opened her eyes and saw red…blood from the lower half of her body. And the worst revelation hit her as she was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital…

…that something could be wrong with the baby.

"Help," she mumbled in her sleep and then she felt the searing pain in her leg and woke up. The pain was worse than anything she could've ever imagined. Olivia was now alone in a hospital bed with the painful leg suspended in a cast.

A female doctor entered the room. "I'm Dr. Liz Scheul, and you must be Agent Olivia Dunham."

Olivia mumbled, "What happened?"

"A hit and run. Your right leg got messed up really bad. Major open fractures and a few broken ribs. It'll take a few months to heal and I recommend extensive physical therapy afterwards."

"The baby?"

"Doing a lot better than you are," said the doctor as she looked at the medical records. "I almost didn't know about it until I felt the baby bump. How far are you?"

"About 10 weeks." Olivia's eyes went wide with realization. "Have you talked to anyone from the F.B.I.?"

"I spoke to a…Peter Bishop and told him you're in recovery now."

"You didn't tell him about the baby, did you?"

Dr. Scheul gave Olivia one of those looks one gets when they figure out what's really going on. "He didn't ask, I didn't say. I still have respect for the whole doctor-patient confidentiality." She winked at Olivia and then headed towards the door. "He should be waiting down the hall. I'll let him know you're awake."

A minute later, Peter appeared. "Damn it. Liv, are you alright?"

"I'm alive." Olivia winced. "But…it hurts. What happened…at the Air Base?"

"They got away, Liv. I'm sorry."

Olivia moaned in pain again.

"You know I saw the doctor and it looked like she was hiding something," said Peter. "Is there something else going on with you that you're not telling me?"

For a brief moment, Olivia almost wanted to tell him. After all, she almost died and took the baby along with her. It pained her to hold any secrets back but then there was the other side of things. Nothing good could come out telling him about the baby no matter how much he needed to hear the truth.

All that came out of her mouth was a dull "no."

There was almost a disappointed look on Peter's face but unknown to Olivia, there was a lot of pain within. "I get it," he said coldly. "You don't trust me. I get it. I thought you'd be over it but I guess I was wrong…again."

Peter stormed out of the room.

"Peter, wait!"

But he ignored Olivia's cry and never came back.

After spending a long time crying, Olivia made a request to have Broyles come see her in the hospital.

"You said it was important I come?"

"We had to talk privately," she said. "Getting to the point. I agreed to do it…about 10 weeks ago."

Broyles knew instantly what she was referring to. "And you wait till now to inform me?"

"Astrid's the only one I've told. With everything going on with the shapeshifters, I couldn't let everyone worry about me…"

"Base on the extent of your injuries, it seems you'll be out the field earlier than planned."

"I'm sorry."

Broyles sighed. "I was going to tell you this if you decided to go through with it, but as you know, you're Alternate Enemy #1. They could be waiting till the invasion to hunt you or they might be in the process now."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, since you're in no condition to fight, you may have to leave Boston for your own safety."

"Leave? And go where?"

"I wouldn't stay on this side of the country. Our intelligence indicates that their Fringe Division will likely to cross over from New York City and their invasion will spread throughout the New England area."

Olivia could only think of one place she could go. "I can stay with my sister in Chicago."

Broyles nodded. "I'll have the arrangements made. Your choice of relocation does not leave this room."

…

Olivia found packing on crutches a huge struggle. So she had to hire people to get all of her stuff into storage. She hadn't spoken a word to anyone about the move until it was her last day in the lab, when she had to explain to Walter and Peter that she would have to go into hiding because of the Second Wave. No mention of the baby though.

"I hope they have good doctors where you're going," said Walter.

"I'm sure they do." Olivia then gave Astrid a look and she nodded back.

"Where are you going?" asked Peter. Olivia couldn't tell if he was just being curious or generally worried.

"That's classified unfortunately."

"Yeah," he said using the same cold tone he had in the hospital.

Olivia tried to give him some reassurance. "I'll be back when I'm better."

"See you then," Peter said coldly, leaving her alone with Walter and Astrid.

"You know, Agent Dunham," said Walter. "I could've sworn there was something else I was going to ask you about before you left. Such a shame, I can't remember what it was though."

…

Before getting on the plane, Olivia looked down and saw that her baby bump was slightly showing. She was grateful her trenchcoat could cover it but it was going to get bigger real soon. Olivia was leaving Boston just in time. But she hated leaving everything with Peter the way it was. Who could blame him, though? She said things to him she could never take back. She would've given anything just to be able to turn around just say "I'm sorry" to him before leaving but she knew he wouldn't want to listen to her.

Instead she had to give one last call to Broyles. "I'm coming back as soon as the baby's born, invasion or no."

"Then, let's hope all of this works," said Broyles. "I'd hate for this to be the last time we see each other face-to-face."

"Me too," she said. "I'll be in touch." At that moment two F.B.I. agents came and assisted Olivia with getting on the plane.

* * *

**Hate to say it but I still don't know what gender to make the baby or what to name it yet. So suggestions are welcome. Anything else you would like to see in this story is welcome too. Please PM ideas to me. Next update will be after Christmas.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I surprised myself with a double whammy update and now I'm gonna surprise you. Consider it a thank you present for the insane amount of reviews I got in the last chapter.

* * *

**

**Chicago**

Rachel and Ella were there to meet Olivia at the airport and she was grateful for that. They were living with Greg in a nice townhouse in a part of the city that Olivia knew Rachel could never afford to live in on her own. Greg was always working so he was hardly ever home.

And later that night, after Ella was in bed, Olivia knew she would have to tell Rachel the truth about why she needed to stay with her for the next 6 months or so. But of course to tell her every single detail from AltLiv to the child she had to carry in order to save two universes would just make it sound like she had been in Walter's supply of Brown Betty.

"I got hit by a car while chasing a criminal," said Olivia. "My boss is letting me do some work from home here."

"Well Ella and are both thrilled to have you," said Rachel. "But couldn't you have just stayed in Boston to heal that leg?"

Olivia struggled to hold it together. "Rachel, the truth is…something happened between me and Peter."

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "Oh my god. Are you kidding?"

"I wish I wasn't. It didn't work out."

"I'm so sorry, Liv. What happened?"

"I can't even begin to explain where it all went wrong," Olivia said…and that was the truth. "It gets worse, Rach. I'm pregnant."

She managed to silence her sister in shock, something she had never done before. "Oh Liv. Don't you think he would've…"

"He doesn't know."

"What do you mean he doesn't know?'

"I didn't tell him. You wouldn't understand, Rachel. If I were to tell him, it would just make things worse."

"Now this is not like you, Liv. Do you remember how much pressure you put on me to tell Greg about Ella? If you hadn't pushed me to tell him, I can't imagine Ella and I wouldn't be living in a nice place like this."

"It's not the same, Rachel. It's a very complex situation between me and Peter."

"Well you were lucky to get into that accident when you did." Rachel noticed that Olivia was starting to look sick. "Are you alright? You look a little flushed."

"I know," she said. "I've been sweating a lot and my heart's been racing. But I think that's normal for my situation."

"I dunno about that. Maybe you should see a doctor."

But Olivia knew the only kind of doctor that could help her in this situation was the kind with a cow in his lab.

Olivia didn't bring much clothes with her knowing she was entering the maternity clothes phase. It made Rachel really jealous because Olivia was still looking good and skinny in everything she wore despite the pregnancy. She also managed to keep herself busy with the getting her leg healed, prenatal checkups, and shapeshifter reports despite being stuck in the house most of the time and being Ella's babysitter. Yet the unusual sweats and heart issues continued, and Olivia was starting to get really worried.

…

**Boston**

"I miss Agent Dunham."

"We know, Walter," said Peter. "You say that just about everyday."

"Don't you miss her, Peter?"

"Yeah I do," he said. "But Broyles did say she had to leave for her own safety, and I'm not gonna argue against that."

At that moment, Astrid's phone started vibrating and her eyes went wide when she saw that the call was coming from Olivia.

"Uh…it's my mom," said Astrid. "Excuse me." And she went into Olivia's office. "Hey."

"Hey, Astrid."

"How are you doing? How's Chicago?"

"Well Broyles has given me plenty of work to keep me sane. But I'm worried about you guys. I hear the shapeshifter sightings are getting worse."

"They are," said Astrid. "But even if you were here, we still wouldn't be able to keep up."

"I did my ultrasound yesterday."

"Oh?"

"I'm having a boy."

"Liv…that's wonderful! Walter would freak if he knew."

Olivia was starting to feel hesitant. "Do they ever talk about me?"

"When don't they? Walter brings you up about every hour."

"What about Peter?"

Astrid smiled. "He misses you too, you know."

Olivia had a hard time believing this after leaving Peter on bad terms. She hoped that Astrid wasn't lying. "Thanks, Astrid. There's just one more thing I need you to do for me…"

After the phone call, Astrid waited till Walter and Peter left the lab for a case while she did her work. As requested by Olivia, Astrid did some rummaging through Walter's personal files and looked up the file of every single person that he ever worked with until she found the right one.

She called Olivia. "Hey Liv, the closest one I found is a Dr. Constance Mullen, who lives near Milwaukee…if you can make that drive."

…

**Near Milwaukee**

Olivia made the drive despite her health risks. With every minute that was passing Olivia was now starting to feel like she could explode any minute as the blood was rushing quicker through her veins than ever.

Finally, she got to a cabin deep in a remote area of a nature park. The door was opened by an elderly hippie-looking woman. She looked worried at the sight of a sick looking pregnant woman on her doorstep.

"Constance Mullen?"

"Yes?" said the woman. "Are you alright?"

"I'm Olivia Dunham. We spoke on the phone…I…" Olivia didn't finish the sentence as she suddenly collapsed. Constance quickly reached out to catch her but couldn't believe how hot her skin was as she dragged her inside.


	9. Chapter 9

It didn't take long for Olivia to wake up on Constance's couch with a cold wet rag on her forehead. Constance then offered her some medicine and a glass of water. "It should be alright. You and your baby gave me quite a scare, Olive."

"Olive?" Olivia was stunned by the use of her nickname, the one so commonly used by Walter and William Bell. "Have we met before?"

Constance smiled. "We have now that I had a better look at you. But last time I saw you, you were just a little girl, the tiniest most adorable thing I ever did see. Why you haven't changed much at all."

"So you knew about Cortexiphan?"

"I was one of Walter and Belly's lab assistants on that project. One of the last jobs I had in that field before I decided to get out. Hearing what happened to Walter, it was good thing I left when I did. Those years still haunt me and yet I haven't strayed far from it now that I work in alternative therapy."

Olivia explained to Constance that she had to come to her because she couldn't let Walter know what was really going on. So she recounted much of her epic journey from finding Walter and his son Peter, to being trapped on the Other Side and making it back only to now carry the universally mixed child in her womb with the Other Side set to invade any day now.

"I see that time is short then," said Constance. "And you say you've been having excessive sweating and rapid heartbeats?"

Olivia nodded. "Is that normal?"

"Not if you're having a child of two universes. As the carrier, this is a delicate situation for you. You don't want the child's blood mixing with yours. It can be disastrous."

"How do you know?"

Constance became melancholy. "Because I was in the very same situation as you years ago. Belly retrieved semen from a man in the other world and I volunteered to be the carrier. About halfway into the pregnancy, I was starting to feel unnatural symptoms and that's when we discovered it. Universally mixed blood is not without it's side effects and the child's blood was mixing with my own. It was like a war in my own body only it was a war of natural properties from separate universes."

"What did you do?"

"We…we had to remove the child. I would have died if nothing was done."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. The child was suffering from hemolytic disease. It wouldn't have survived the birth." Constance turned to Olivia with a hopeful smile. "There's nothing to fear, Olive. It won't happen to you."

But Olivia was shaking from Constance's story. "And how do you know that?"

"Because you have the missing ingredient. The one thing I didn't have. You have Cortexiphan."

Olivia then remembered what Walter told her when he proposed this plan from the beginning. "Walter said I might be able to use Cortexiphan to kick-start the merger."

"He's right," said Constance. "It's a good thing you came to me when you did, Olive. The child can only complete his true task while you're still carrying him. So now is a better time as any to complete the merger."

"And if I do this, then the problems in both worlds will stop, right?"

"The healing will begin, but the two worlds will remain fragile and unstable. It won't be until the child is severed from your umbilical cord and the navel sealed can the healing be strong and see results."

Constance led Olivia to a room in the back where she offered her a hospital gown.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Olivia. In this room was a white sensory deprivation tank filled with water.

"Something wrong?" asked Constance. "Are you scared?"

"No," said Olivia. "I'm very familiar with how this works."

"Wonderful."

Olivia lied down and unlike past experiences in the tank, this one provided the extra challenge of the weight Olivia was carrying in her womb.

"In order for your child to unite both worlds he must acknowledge the two worlds as one in the same. What we're going to do is transfer your knowledge and experiences of both worlds into the consciousness of the fetus and as the fetus grows, so will the link. Now I want you to close your eyes and envision the two universes side-by-side."

Olivia conjured up images in her head but when it came to the other side, she could only come up with horrifying images: the people in amber, burning cities, the smallpox pandemic, the pain and torture she endured as Walternate's prisoner.

"Olive, you must make your vision of the other side more neutral."

"I can't." Olivia was crying in the tank. "It hurts too much."

"You must try, Olive. You're going to send these visions to your child and they must be as innocent and pure as possible. Your son needs to see that both worlds can exist in perfect balance. If one side is off-balance, so too will his genes."

Olivia tried to think of good aspects from the Other Side but the only ones she could come up with were from when she was brainwashed to be the other Olivia. She thought of Lincoln and Charlie both of whom turned out to be decent guys. And then she thought of Henry and about his family but Olivia needed something stronger.

Then it finally hit her.

Peter…she had to think of Peter.

It was the perfect vision. Peter was the child's biological father. It was only natural that this would be the most appeasing aspect of the Other Side for the baby to know.

"I have it now."

"Then it's time," said Constance. "I want you to imagine yourself releasing these images slowly and gently and let them be consumed by the womb."

Olivia turned off her mind and let the images of the two worlds be taken in by the baby. She could hear Constance's voice calling "remain calm while the child absorbs these images into his own consciousness."

And then something happened that Olivia didn't expect. She suddenly felt weightless and then she saw a great blue light all around her. Then came a feeling as if she was being pulled into a drain from inside of her own body. When the feeling stopped, Olivia looked around and saw beyond the blue light, a half destroyed forest that surrounded her. She could feel the breeze hitting her. For a few minutes she saw and felt these things and could've sworn that a man was standing nearby. And then, the pulling feeling from within her occurred again...ending with Olivia wide-awake and quickly emerging from the tank.

Constance quickly got her a towel.

"What happened?" Olivia asked shaking.

"You tell me," said Constance. "You disappeared from the tank for several minutes and then just reappeared." She smiled. "My guess is that your child wanted to take a little trip to the Other Side and he took you along for the ride."

…

**Alter-World Wisconsin**

"I'm not crazy," said the hiker. "I know what I saw."

"No one said you were. Could you just repeat that for us again?"

"I told you Agent Dunham. It was a blue light that just appeared right over there in the blight area." The man pointed to an area where the blight and the still standing forest seem to meet. It was this alone that made it a potential Fringe case. "It started out as a blue light but then it turned into an orb and I could've sworn I saw a baby in it."

"A baby?"

"Yeah, you know. With the umbilical cord and all of that still attached. And then there was this woman standing there. I even have pictures on my phone."

The man gave Olivia the phone but all she could see were blurred blue images.

"You know, kinda think of it," said the man. "That woman looked an awful lot like you."

Before she could even react to that, Olivia felt the familiar tap of Charlie's finger on her shoulder.

"Hey Liv. Lincoln's got something you wanna check out."

Olivia turned and saw Lincoln was now standing by the spot the man claimed to have seen his vision just a few feet into the blight zone.

What they saw was not to be believed.

Beneath the cracks of the ground were several green sprouts.

"What should we do?" asked Lincoln.

Olivia was not going to jump to conclusions about anything. "Get a sample," she said. "We need to show this to the Secretary."


	10. Chapter 10

**Fringe Division, Alter-New York**

With a look of contempt, the Secretary gave the sprouts one last good look but then placed them back on his desk. "This means nothing."

"But sir…"

"The spot where this man claimed to have seen this vision was in the borderline of the blight zone. Not far enough in to have any significant impact."

Agent Dunham boldly asked "and what about the vision? The blue light he saw?"

"Indeed," he said. "It's unfortunate that we had to amber him, I would've investigated further into that matter, personally." He then looked over at his agent. "Something on your mind, Agent Dunham?"

"Sir, suppose it was possible that THEY are looking for a way…to preserve both universes. This could be the first sign."

The Secretary's patience was thinning at the very thought of the other world. "Dunham, we both know that they have no interest in helping us." He sighed. "There is only one way to save this world and that is to bring Peter back here by any means necessary."

"Well he believes now that you're trying to kill him."

The Secretary slammed his fist on the desk. "RUBBISH! Do you think I want this? Do you believe I would willingly dispose of my own son after getting him back?" He sank deeper into his chair feeling very depressed. "This is not my choice. The machine will only take one with a unique genetic makeup. It will only take my son. It is the only choice we have but one I never would have to make if he had never been taken from me to begin with."

Olivia became startled by the Secretary's sudden mood swings and deep down, she was shaking with in fear. But she couldn't let that show infront of him. "There's just one more thing, Sir. You gave Francis and Lee Cortexiphan to help them cross over for the invasion. I wish to know why I wasn't administered or assigned to such training."

The Secretary explained, "It's too much of a risk to have you join us. Your alternate is our greatest enemy. And once we break through to her world, I plan to place a bounty on her head: your alternate in exchange for the lives of those in that world. It would only create chaos and confusion if you came with us. You'll be much safer staying here. Besides, you've already done your part and it will have made all the difference I assure you."

The agent finally left the Secretary's office feeling quite disappointed.

…

**Chicago**

Olivia drove back to Chicago with Constance's last words in her head. _"This will likely have…unusual side effects."_

And it did. The whole time Olivia was driving back, she could feel an unusual fluttering in her womb. She was becoming more and more sensitive to the baby's movements now, and it was almost as if she knew what he was doing and thinking down there. She knew he was hungry as soon as she got back to Rachel's.

When Olivia got into the living room, she found a huge pile of gift boxes on the couch.

"Surprise Aunt Liv!" Ella jumped out from behind the couch.

Rachel came out of kitchen laughing. "It was Ella's idea to surprise you."

"What is this?"

"A baby shower. It's not as fancy as mine was. But I figure since it's going to be just the three of us, we might as well."

Ella became excited "mommy baked a cake!"

At the very mention of cake, Olivia felt a constant wave of excitement in her womb, almost to the point of salivating. "Chocolate, I hope."

"Of course, Liv."

Olivia was relieved. And with Greg working late again, the girls were able to enjoy the night at their leisure. Olivia was already consuming most of the cake. This kid was no doubt going to have a chocolate obsession once he came out.

Then it was time for the gifts. The first box Olivia opened was a pair of baby jammies with a yellow ducky in the corner. Upon seeing this, Olivia had a yucky feeling in her uterus. Just as she thought…the baby shared her disgust for the color yellow. She just knew it.

"This package came for you today from Boston." Olivia was surprised and went about opening the package. The box came from a trendy baby shop in Boston. She opened it to find another pajama set. This one had checker pattern pants and a white top with a symbol on it…a bishop-shaped chess piece.

There was a gift tag attached that say _'I'm guilty. It's a hint. Take care. Signed Astrid.'_

Rachel gave her an odd look but Olivia quickly requested to open more presents. The remainder of the gifts consisted of a slinger and more clothes with a few plush animals.

Now if only Olivia could have some wine, then this would've been a perfect baby shower in her mind.

That night, Olivia couldn't sleep. Those pajamas Astrid sent over was a clear reminder of Peter still being in the dark about what was really going on…and why she was here. Indeed she was already passed the point of no return in this delicate situation. There was no way of hiding the baby from him once he was born. Olivia still planned to return to Boston and even if Peter would never forgive her for keeping this from him, she could live with that. But she then what would happen to the baby afterward, she still had no clue.

She laid her head down on her pillow with all of these worries about Peter going through her head when suddenly she felt an unusual gurgle. She thought at first she was dreaming as suddenly her vision became blurry.

But then she got that feeling of being sucked away.

Olivia landed with a thump on a dusty wooden floor. All around her was darkness and emptiness. Wherever she was, it looked abandoned.

She then heard noises coming from outside and went to investigate. Instead of seeing the row of townhouses in Rachel's neighborhood, she saw massive field of construction stretching for miles. Amidst the construction she saw steel being cut and giant airships getting inflated. She had never seen so many airships in her life. Some of the dirigibles were already taking off and heading east.

"Oh god."

Her vision was fading before her and Olivia was starting to feel light. She was being sucked in again until finally she was stumbling back onto the floor of her bedroom in Rachel's house.

The baby had done it again. He pulled her into the other reality. Why he was doing this, she had no clue but Olivia knew that this was going to get really irritating if this continued for the remainder of her pregnancy.


	11. Chapter 11

**No need to panic everyone. This story lives! I had a writer's block snag for a second there but I should be in a controlled environment for the next few days allowing me to concentrate more on this story. So let's commence.**

**And as a reminder, time in this story is speeding up now. Writing a preggers fic is hard because I cant think of that much story to write that's set in a 9 month period without dragging things along...**

**Besides, the big stuff in this story is yet to come.**

* * *

**Chicago**

After months in physical therapy her leg was healed, but thanks to the baby adding extra weight, it was still hard for Olivia to walk around. She was stuck in the house all day with the little bugger expected to pop out anytime. But her concern was still the impending attack. The blimps she saw in the other world were a sign. They were running out of time and Olivia couldn't do anything to make the baby come out faster. She knew he had to come out on his own terms.

Day after day, it seemed as though Olivia had developed an uncanny ability to read her baby's mind and vice versa. Every kick now had a meaning and every position the baby turned to rest himself in was significant and Olivia was catching on quickly. It was their own special form of communicating with one another.

Thankfully, there were no more unexpected trips to the other side but the mere thought of it, even in her dreams, would cause Olivia to suddenly wake up to rapid kicking in her womb but this was the only motion whose meaning she could not interpret.

On one particular afternoon as she was reading, Olivia had that gut feeling, a really big gut feeling. She closed her eyes and soon she and the baby were communicating, through a silent series of pulses.

"Are you sure?"

Olivia felt two strong pulses.

"Rachel!"

Rachel ran into the room. "Oh my god! Liv, is it time?"

"I don't know. It could be. I just know that I need to get to the hospital now."

"Hold it, Liv. I don't want to get caught in rush hour traffic over a false alarm."

"Please," Olivia begged. "Just do it."

And just as Rachel feared they got caught in traffic but Olivia was doing surprisingly well. There were no contractions of any sort but Olivia demanded they still go to the hospital anyway. The baby wanted it so.

Finally they arrived in the E.R. Rachel went to check her in. "My sister is um…"

There was a sudden scream and Rachel turned around to see Olivia kneeling. At that very moment…her water broke.

"…in labor."

…

**F.B.I. Headquarters, Boston**

Broyles had summoned Astrid, Walter, and Peter to the F.B.I. Building and he sounded very nervous. "I received a call from Massive Dynamic, they're picking up pulses of an unknown origin all over the Boston area."

"Does that mean…?"

"I'm afraid so Agent Farnsworth. It means an attack on our world is imminent."

"Oh my," said Walter. "If only Agent Dunham were here." At that moment, he saw Peter walk away. "Where are you going, son?"

But Peter ignored him. Instead he needed to find a way to communicate with Olivia, at least to warn her, of the attack. He knew Broyles wouldn't tell him a thing regarding her current location, but perhaps if he were to go snooping around her desk…

He casually strolled over to her desk, which was empty except for a stack of mail and other papers in her incoming tray. But something was sticking out in the stack of papers that caught his eye. He pulled out a pink slip. It looked like an invoice but what got his attention was the Massive Dynamic logo in the corner.

Peter looked it over and just had a heart attack. In seconds, he stormed into Broyles office but stop dead when he heard some of the conversation.

"It should've worked," said Astrid. "Olivia's supposed to have the baby any day now. It should've prevented any invasion."

"I'm trying to get in contact with her to get her status," said Broyles. "We'll just have to inquire with Dr. Bishop about how long it will take for any result to come out of Agent Dunham having this child."

The door kicked open and an angry Peter stepped in. "So it's true…," he growled. "Olivia is having a baby? My baby? AND NONE OF YOU BOTHERED TO TELL ME?"

Broyles kept his calm about the matter, but Astrid was shaking. "Peter, it was Agent Dunham who strongly requested that you were to know nothing about this."

"I don't believe this!" Peter pulled out the pink invoice sheet as a clueless and naïve Walter came in. "Such noise. Are they invading already?"

Peter waved the pink sheet in Walter's face. "Look at this Walter! This is an invoice saying that Olivia went to Massive Dynamic nine months ago for an insemination. And that's my name under 'Donor'! For the love of god, you better not tell me you had any part in this!"

Walter's eyes lit up. "So…," he said. "The merger was a success?"

"Yes it was," said Broyles.

"That's wonderful. We should contact Agent Dunham and…"

"Shut up!" Peter yelled. "I can't believe you would all betray me like this! I can't believe Olivia would…"

Peter didn't know what else to do. He was going to lose it and hurt someone in the office so he quickly stormed out. In the hallway was a table and without pause, Peter flipped the thing over angrily.

Walter, Astrid, and Broyles quietly remained in the office listening to the commotion outside triggered by Peter's rage.

...

**Chicago**

Olivia seemed to be screaming her head off the whole trip to the delivery room. Rachel was in scrubs and in the room for support. "Liv, I'm surprised at you," she teased. "A tough military brat like you screaming over labor pains? And you complained I was screaming like a banshee when I was having Ella."

Olivia tried to laugh in the middle of the pain. "Rachel you **were** screaming like a banshee!" The contractions were getting rough and Olivia's vision was starting to blur but the doctors didn't seem to pay attention.

"No, not now!"

"It has to happen now."

"That's not what I meant!" Olivia was starting to panic. She couldn't let herself disappear from everyone in the middle of delivery. "Rachel, you…don't have to be here."

"Yes I do, Liv. The day I had Ella, you were there for me. Greg wasn't. At least let me return the favor."

Olivia gave a whimpered "Thank you." But the baby's unusual movements continued. She had to plea with the baby not to make another trip. "Why are you doing this?" she asked out loud. No one heard her. She blinked, once or twice. She wasn't gone…not yet but she could see the hospital room getting blurry. Within the blur the hospital room looked different. There was no one present but a woman who was cleaning the room and watching the TV. On the TV was the face of someone Olivia did not expect…the Secretary.

And under his face was a news bulletin: _United States Fringe Division Take-Off Now in Progress in Boston_.

Olivia blinked and then was surrounded by doctors again. All around her, everyone acted as if nothing happened. And Olivia to her surprise felt no pain, only numbness. A sound had been buzzing in her ear the whole time and it didn't become clear to her until now…

…it was a baby's cry.

"Congratulations, Miss Dunham," said the doctor. "You have a healthy baby boy."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chicago**

_"Congratulations, Miss Dunham," said the doctor. "You have a healthy baby boy."_

Olivia senses returned to her slowly one by one. The last one being touch and the first thing she felt was a squirmy, soft skinned infant in her arms.

"You okay, Liv?" asked Rachel. "You looked like you were gonna pass out on us during delivery."

"I'm better now," she said. So apparently, they saw Olivia getting dizzy but at least she didn't pull an unintentional disappearing act in front of them when she caught a glimpse of the other side. For now, Olivia was overwhelmed with emotion. And it wasn't until the baby got his first feed of breast-milk did he finally open his eyes…

They were blue. The most beautiful shade of baby blue eyes she had ever seen and yet so hauntingly familiar. Rachel beat her to the punch.

"He has Peter's eyes."

At that moment, Olivia broke down. All these months, she had been trying to escape Peter, ignoring the fact that she really was carrying a small part of him this whole time. And now he was here. Even after everything that's happened, he wouldn't leave her. He was haunting her now through this baby who resembled him in every way.

"Liv, what's wrong?"

Olivia had been crying nonstop for the past 5 minutes unaware that Rachel was still in the room with her. "What have I done, Rachel? I just had Peter's baby and he doesn't know. He doesn't even know…"

Rachel hugged Olivia and let her sob on her shirt. "Olivia…"

"He's never going to forgive me for this…" Olivia knew this now. Her eyes had opened up. She believed that what Peter did was incredibly painful but now she realized that Peter was a victim. Olivia had now committed a greater crime than he ever did.

"Maybe not, but if I know Peter, he would never turn you or the baby away for anything. Just tell him, Liv. Now's a better time than any."

But Olivia was just plain scared out of her mind to confront him. She couldn't just pick up the phone. Her mind was still a bit buzzed. She didn't want her apology to come out wrong in anyway.

"Do you have a camera?"

…

**F.B.I. Headquarters, Boston**

Peter went out into a nearby alley and took out his anger on anything he could find for a while until he finally broke down. He was a wreck. How could Olivia do this to him? What did he do to deserve this? Was she really that mad at him for his mistakes that she would try to even the score like this? Had she really become that cruel?

He had tried to keep his distance. He had even tried to accept that he was the screw-up who had only increased Olivia's victimization. He had accepted that Olivia was never going to be open or forefront with him again. But to keep this one thing (this one little thing they could've done together) from him…it was killing him…literally killing him.

He could only assume that Olivia wanted him to play no part in the baby's life.

Once all the anger was unleashed, Peter stumbled back into the building. The agents were fortunately occupied in other matters to focus on him and were running about as if on high alert. Walter hurried over to him.

"Son, Broyles suggests we head downstairs."

But Peter pushed him away. "Not now, Walter."

"But Peter…"

"Please. Just leave me alone." Walter watched his son mope about like a zombie until he disappeared into an empty interrogation room by himself, shutting the door. Almost all the urge to kick or destroy something had left him. But still…

His phone vibrated and he looked to find an incoming video message…from Rachel's phone.

Why on earth would Rachel send him a video message?

So he played it and to his shock, instead of seeing Rachel on the screen, he saw Olivia…lying in a hospital room. She looked rough around the edges and her hair had gotten longer and messier.

She was doing her best to smile for the camera.

"_Hi, Peter."_

Peter kept himself transfixed on the screen. _"I don't know where to begin with this. So I should just show you." _And finally from off-screen Olivia gathered up a baby in her arms. _"He was born just an hour ago. A healthy baby boy…your boy."_

At that moment, the baby's eyes opened up to reveal their shade of blue that matched his father's. And Peter knew…this really was his.

"_I was wrong to do this without you, Peter. I was wrong to not even tell you..."_

Peter could barely hear beyond his own sobs.

"_I was scared…scared of how things would've been between us if you knew…if you got involved…I kept telling myself that I was only doing this because it had to be done…for the sake of both of our worlds. I saw it as nothing more than a duty."_ Olivia was trying to hold back her own tears in the video. _"I've let everything that happened when I was gone…when I was still over there, do this to me. I thought I lost you when you said that you were with her…but you never did anything wrong. I took all of that anger out on you when you didn't deserve it. I was wrong to tell you I didn't want to be with you. Because I do, Peter. I really do. But I thought it was too late. Too impossible now…"_

Olivia continued her fight to stay strong infront of the camera. But then she took one good look at the baby in her arms. Even Peter could see it. She had fallen in love with that kid.

And at that very same moment…so did he.

_"He's beautiful, Peter. He's you. Please don't be angry with Astrid or Broyles. They only wanted to help me. And your father…please don't take anything out on him."_

The surge of hate and hurt was still boiling in Peter but seeing that baby on-screen was keeping his emotions in check. It was having a control over him that he never felt before. _"I've been staying with Rachel in Chicago. She's been wonderful and so helpful. Even she felt you deserved to know about him. And you do, Peter. I haven't named him yet, because I feel that you should have a say in that. You deserve to be with him far more than I do. So we're coming home. We're coming home to see you. I won't keep him from you any longer, Peter. I'm so sorry…"_

The screen went blank. "No!" Peter yelled. He shook at the phone pressed hard on all the buttons but it was stone cold dead. "No! Dammit!" He was so focus on trying to get that image of Olivia and their baby back, he didn't even realize that the whole room went dark.

A sudden jolt and a boom and the room shook. People were yelling outside and Peter hurried out into the hall to see.

Everything was pitch black and people were running around blind.

"Peter!"

Peter followed the sound of Walter's distinct voice and found him and Astrid carrying glow sticks. "Oh thank god, Peter!"

"What's happening?"

"An EMP," said Astrid. "Everything's fried in the city. No power, no phones…"

BOOM!

The whole floor shook this time and everyone screamed.

"Evacuate the building…NOW!"

Everyone followed Broyles' loud command and soon Peter, Walter, and Astrid were caught in a mass of shoving and screaming agents as they headed for the emergency exits. There were lots of glow sticks appearing to help guide everyone.

"Wait," said Peter. He saw Broyles running over to and staring at the window along with dozens of others. Joined by Walter and Astrid, they all stood frozen at the sight of what was out there.

The night sky was glowing a great array of red, black, brown, and orange. Fires were shooting out of distant skyscrapers… But what caught everyone's attention were the moving objects in the sky…a whole swarm of them.

The dirigibles were circling the entire city hundreds of feet above, shooting out their deadly lasers that shook the earth without mercy.


	13. Chapter 13

**Just realizing that we're less than two weeks away from the show coming back on so I better get on my buttocks with this story if I'm ever gonna finish by the show's return. Here we go.**

* * *

**Boston**

Broyles ordered all the agents to leave the area immediately to either be with their families or to report for duty with any of the military officers. There was nothing they could do with at least a dozen airships circling the Federal Building alone. The top floors were already on fire.

"It should've worked," Walter mumbled as he was being pushed by Peter and Astrid down the stairs. "Agent Dunham had the child. It should've worked."

Peter theorized. "Maybe if they knew…about the merger."

"Oh yeah," said Astrid. "As if we can have a peaceful chat with them while they're stuck in their balloons!"

The group got out just in time before another laser struck the building. The entire tower was close to collapsing.

"So what do we do now," Peter asked Broyles.

He looked out to find panic and chaos amidst an atmosphere of smoke and fire. Air sirens blared throughout the city. Even his instincts would've compelled him to go find his family but he knew that his place right now was to handle this crisis.

"We go to New York. There's a fortified base in the basement of Massive Dynamic. Nina will be expecting us."

Broyles, Peter, Walter and Astrid all hurried into the first federal SUV they could find and began their drive into the warzone.

…

**Chicago**

Olivia was hoping for some rest, but the commotion in the hallways was keeping her awake. She assumed it as just a code blue or an emergency case as Olivia could see doctors running up and down the halls. But then, Rachel returned from the snack room, her face all white. Olivia could tell this wasn't good.

"What's going on Rachel?"

"It's all over the news, Liv. They're attacking Boston!"

She couldn't believe her sister until Rachel turned on the TV in the hospital room. Images of fire and smoke filled the TV screen and then…video footage of giant airships bearing their Fringe Division symbol. It made Olivia's blood run cold. The Other Side was here. The Secretary was here.

Of course no one around her knew of that. Even the news reports were suggesting the idea of aliens. None of the footage they were showing was live footage due to the majority of the New England area being without power.

And immediately, Olivia's thoughts went to Peter, Walter, Astrid and everyone back in Boston. From the looks of the footage, it was unbelievable to think that the airships would wipe out the entire city. But Olivia knew that the Secretary would indeed go that far.

The baby was in the hospital crib right next to Olivia fast asleep and unaware of the panic.

"Liv…"

Olivia wasn't listening to Rachel. Her mind was trapped in a thousand different places right now. "Peter's going to be fine."

But Olivia wasn't sure of this.

A doctor came into the room looking through some papers. "Olivia Dunham."

"Yes."

"Sorry to do this to you. But we're gonna have to let you go early. They're putting all the major cities on high alert and clearing out all the hospitals for any expected casualties."

"Who?" asked Rachel.

"The United States Government."

Rachel was rushed into signing Olivia's release papers. They even gave Olivia the birth certificate to fill out on her own time. There was just no time to do all the work at the hospital and by nightfall Rachel, Olivia, and the baby were stuck in traffic as panicky citizens were crowding up the streets in an attempt to get home or to collect supplies.

As soon as they got home, Greg departed to stock up on gas and food. Rachel was able to keep Ella distracted from the crisis showing her the new baby while Olivia stayed in the living room occupied with the news reports coming from Boston. The National Guard was already on hand to combat the airships but it was proving to be a difficult fight.

Olivia was struggling to figure out why they were invading even though she just had the baby. She started to blame herself. If she hadn't been so protective of her own feelings and had just done it with Peter the moment Walter suggested it, then maybe they could've prevented this from happening.

Or maybe there was one more part in the process that was left to be done.

But if anyone knew, it was Walter. And with all the power and communications down throughout New England, there was no way to contact him. And then there was the Secretary. Olivia knew that whatever the reason for attacking her world, looking for her would be, for them, a top priority. That explains why the airships were hanging around Boston. It would only be a matter of time before they found her here and how many lives would they kill along the way before arriving in a city with 10 million?

Olivia got up and hurried to her room and started packing her things.

"Liv, what are you doing?"

"I'm leaving, Rachel. Going back to Boston."

"Are you crazy Liv? Did you not see the TV? We're being attacked! Boston is going to be nothing but ash in day!"

"I have to go home, Rachel! Trust me, it'll be safer if I leave."

"And what about the baby? You can't just leave him like this!"

"I'm not. He's coming with me."

"WHAT! Liv this is crazy! I'm not letting you do this!"

Olivia grabbed her sister. "Rachel, I need you to listen to me very carefully. You have plenty between you and Greg and Ella to survive for months. Stay here until it's safe. But I have to go back. I have to go back or else those airships are going to come here, and I can't let that happen!"

Rachel just could not figure out the logic behind Olivia's words. All she knew was that her sister was taking herself and a baby into a warzone for no apparent reason.

"Aunt Liv?" The women turned to see Ella by the door. "Are you leaving?"

"Oh Ella." Olivia went to embrace her little niece for what she hoped wasn't the last time. "I wish I wasn't, but I could save a lot of lives if I do this one thing."

"You won't die, will you?"

"No, I won't, baby girl. I'll be okay, and you'll get to come visit your baby cousin and me real soon. I promise."

Ella went into her room and grabbed a blanket and a stuff toy. "He can have this for the trip."

"Thank you, Ella."

Rachel packed some food and water and helped Olivia load everything into the car. Before she gave Olivia the keys, Rachel asked, "You're going back for Peter, aren't you?" Olivia nodded and the two sisters hugged and wept.

But time was running out and as much as Olivia didn't want to admit it, she had no clue what she was doing. All she knew was that she had to get herself and the baby closer to the action in order to be able to put a stop to it.

Taking one glance at the little boy asleep in the backseat, Olivia drove the car and disappeared into the traffic.


	14. Chapter 14

**Interstate 80**

Olivia was making good time. She only had to make a few stops for the basics, such as feeding and changing the baby, but made them short. Driving through Indiana was rather eerie as the roads were empty and lifeless. At the very least, it allowed Olivia to drive faster. To break the tension, she turned on the radio and got an AM station that was broadcasting continuing news on the Boston attack.

_"At this time all U.S. airports have been reportedly shut down. Reports are coming in that the dirigibles are now slowly shifting westward towards Springfield. The area ranging from southern New Hampshire all the way south through all of Rhode Island is close to complete evacuation. In Albany, conflicting reports are coming in as to whether or not the governor will declare a State of Emergency for the entire New York state but rest assured, they are monitoring the situation closely and military units are now in place in New York City, assisting in the evacuation effort. The governor and the mayor of New York urge the public to remain calm but to be prepared for any further developments. And this just in from Washington: the Pentagon has determined that the dirigibles were targeting all government and federal buildings within the Boston area. Several buildings including the State Capitol and the F.B.I. Headquarters are now believed to have been targeted and destroyed by the dirigibles beyond all recognition."_

Olivia had to turn off the radio then. She didn't want to think about. She didn't want to think about where Peter and Walter were at the moment of the attack. She had yet to hear anything about Harvard University where they could've been most likely.

She didn't want to know anything right now.

…

**Somewhere in Southern New York**

They were only about an hour and a half away from their destination when they had to stop somewhere for gas. The lines for the gas station were getting really crazy, as people were desperate to leave the area. Officers had to supervise distribution of gas. Peter was grateful to be in a cars with Feds as they were able to move ahead of the long line and get gas as soon as Broyles showed the officers his FBI badge. Peter, Walter, and Astrid waited in the car as tensions ran high.

"So…," Walter asked. "I have a grandson?"

"Yeah," Peter smiled. "You do."

Walter shed a tear. "I wish I could see him."

"Well if I know, Olivia," said Astrid. "She's probably on her way back here now."

Too many thoughts were running through Peter's head: Was Olivia really on her way here? How would she know where they would be? Did the blimps get to Chicago? What if the Secretary found her first? More importantly: was the baby with her?

"I just hope Gene will be alright. She should be able to activate the emergency food dispenser I set in place for such an event."

They heard the door open and Peter unexpectedly ran out. He went across the street where people were already rioting.

"What the hell?" Astrid and Walter had no idea where we went. Just when it was time to leave, Peter was on his way back in a motorbike.

"Peter I didn't know you had a motorbike."

"He stole it, Walter."

Even Broyles was shocked. "What are you doing, Bishop? We have to get back on the road."

"I'm not coming with you."

"What?"

Peter revved up the bike. "Son, where are you going?"

"Chicago."

He turned away from the gas station.

"PETER!"

"PETER, COME BACK!"

No one was able to stop Peter as he sped away.

…

**Interstate 80**

She finally cross the state border into Ohio were the westbound lane was getting packed with cars of scared citizens driving as far away from the cities as they could. There was little fuel left and the last thing Olivia needed was for her car to break down miles away from any gas station.

The baby began to cry. "Not now," Olivia groaned. But then, she looked into her rearview mirror and saw a pair of blue and red flashing lights speeding up to her.

_'Was this guy serious?'_ Olivia thought. A National Emergency was going on, and they had still cops out giving speeding tickets? The cop continued to speed up on his motorbike until he was alongside her. Olivia tried to flash her FBI badge to him.

"PULL OVER, NOW!"

The cop was being very persistent to the point that he sped up in an attempt to block Olivia causing her to put on the brakes. The sudden stop made the baby cry even louder. Olivia had no time to calm him as the cop approached them and aimed a gun at Olivia forcing her to step out of the car.

Olivia pulled out her FBI badge again. "I'm a Federal Agent and I need to get to Boston!"

"That's not going to happen on my watch, miss. That badge of yours is a fake."

Olivia persisted again. "I'm a Federal Agent and I have distinction over you! Now if you would please move…"

The cop fired his gun into the front tires of the SUV. It distracted Olivia enough for the cop to swipe her FBI badge. "I'm reporting you." Olivia couldn't believe what was happening. This cop must've completely lost his mind with the crisis at hand. Olivia's hand reached down toward the gun that was tucked into her own pocket. She saw the cop calling in from an earpiece instead of a radio. Immediately she became suspicious.

"You never heard of the FBI, have you?"

The cop immediately gave Olivia a look and then he spoke into an earpiece. "Call Fringe. I have Alternate Enemy #1 in my sight. Coordinates are…"

Olivia grabbed the cop's arm and threw him to the ground, causing the gun to fly out of his hand. The two ended up wrestling and rolling off the side of the road into a ditch. Olivia was punched several times but she gave the cop a swift kick in the family jewels. She didn't get very far as she was pulled down again. The cop was pulling her by the hair when Olivia quickly went for the gun in her pocket. She gave him a swift punch in the face from behind. The cop fell to the ground and found his gun a few feet away.

But Olivia pulled the trigger.

The cop lied dead in the ditch and in a matter of seconds a pool of mercury began to form around him.

Olivia's hands were shaking. She hurried back to the car. The baby was okay but it was only a matter of time before someone found them here. Taking only a small bag of essentials, Olivia tucked the baby into a carrier and began her half walk and half run for life. She had to get off the highway.

By the time this was done, it started to rain. The nearest form of shelter Olivia could spot was a rusty old silo. Once she got inside, Olivia collapsed in exhaustion and just wept.

The baby was getting upset with the noise of rain pounding against the silo walls. "Don't cry," Olivia begged. "We'll be okay. You'll get to see your daddy real soon, I promise."

Olivia took Ella's blanket and wrapped herself and the baby in as much as she could but she was still shivering. Eventually mother and son succumbed to a cold unsatisfying sleep on the ground floor of the silo.


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm having severe writer's block and I've decided that I'm just going to push this story forward and get to the climax. With 8 days before the hiatus ends, I'm running short on time and I just want to get this story done. This chapter is super long due to not being able to find a proper breaking point. I say it's about 2-3-4 chapters away from completion? I have no clue but my goal now is to get this done and over already. So sorry if anything feels rushed. I'll make the ending payoff whatever I can.

* * *

**

Olivia woke up to searing pain and an infant wailing in her ears. The baby continued to cry despite Olivia's attempts to soothe him. She gave up and looked out of the silo's opening. In the distance, she could see them…the airships with their Fringe Division logo were circling the area where Olivia abandoned her car.

The baby was finally calming down as Olivia picked him up and hurried out of the silo. The realization was slowly sinking in that they were hundreds of miles away from home. They wouldn't be able to hitchhike. There no one on the road could be trusted, not with the Secretary's men so close to catching them. It was all-in-all a hopeless situation and it made three months of being trapped in an alternate reality almost a piece of cake.

But Olivia knew that now was not the time to give up. She was still a soldier who needed to get this 3-day-old infant home to his father. She wasn't going to quit on that promise.

They took to the country staying near the highway as much as possible without being seen. Olivia felt she was walking for hours just to get one mile. She kept her sanity intact by singing lullabies to the little boy in her arms. He was lucky he got to sleep the whole way.

Yet Olivia couldn't help but let her mind wander. She still blamed herself for their predicament. The baby however remained surprisingly calm and patient and only called upon his mother whenever it was an urgent natural need. To her dismay, Olivia found herself running out of breast-milk quicker than expected. On their next break, Olivia would just sit by a ditch and just cry.

If that wasn't enough, Olivia took off the baby's hat and discovered a growing black spot on the top of his head.

"Oh god."

She felt terrible for not seeing it sooner. The baby was getting more and more upset again and Olivia's worst fear was that it wasn't from a lack of food.

Desperation won over. She had to go into the nearest town. To her dismay however, she found the town had practically emptied out due to the crisis. Windows and doors were either broken into or boarded up. Cars were abandoned all over the streets with their hoods popped open. She finally found the town clinic completely boarded up. It didn't stop her though from breaking through the wood and the glass. She needed to get in…for her son's sake.

Inside everything was dark but Olivia had her gun ready.

A noise was coming from down the hallway and Olivia quickly pulled out her gun. She kicked down a door and on the other side was a roguish man lying against a wall surrounded by bottles of pills and liquor.

"Are you a doctor?"

The man eyed the woman pointing a gun at him but made no effort to really move from his position. "Who wants to know?"

"I need you to get off of your ass and help my baby."

"Lady, I'm a neurosurgeon. Not a pediatrician."

"You can still help. Please…"

Olivia was ready to put the gun straight to the man's head, until his eyes widened as the sight of the infant in Olivia's arms. It was almost as if he was seeing a ghost. He looked terrified. Then all of the sudden the man got down on his knees, performed the sign of the cross and was practically crawling over to Olivia.

"Forgive me. I didn't know it was you!"

A started Olivia was now trying to keep her distance from this crazy man. "What are you doing? Get back!"

"I see the glow! I see the child glowing! Are you here to end this war and bring peace?"

Olivia didn't know what to say. "What are you talking about?"

"Please, anything for 'Our Lady' and 'Our Savior'. I will do what is asked of me!"

"Can you…can you get us some food?"

"Yes! Yes! I have plenty. Blessed Mary, I'll bring you everything I have!"

Olivia was astonished to see the doctor rushing past by her to head for his food supply all the while he seemed to be chanting prayers along the way. Olivia was now having her doubts about having him inspect the baby…not in his mental state.

The doctor came back with some food. And as Olivia was eating, the doctor became greatly entranced with the child and took note of the large black spot on his head.

"Is he alright?" Olivia asked him. "I got worried. I…I had to push the brakes hard on the car and I was scared that he hit his head to hard.

The doctor chuckled. "No…it's just a bruise. He's well." He started walking away and mumbling to himself.

"You still see him glowing?"

"Of course, I do," said the doctor.

Olivia took note. This doctor was surprisingly young. He had to be about her age. "Were you ever tested for something called Cortexiphan?"

"What?"

"Cortexiphan. They did a trial many years ago at Ohio State University. You were part of that trial, weren't you? I was part of the trial in Jacksonville."

The doctor looked at Olivia in realization. "So…you're not the Virgin Mary?"

Olivia shook her head. "No…that glow you're seeing around my son, it's because of his father. He's from another universe. I can't see it as well as you can but it's true."

The doctor asked "But how did you…?"

"It had to be done. Dr. Bishop, one of the doctors who experimented on us, thinks that he might be able to stop the war. But I have to get my son back to him. Do you have a working car I can take?"

"Nothing here to help. The city ran out of power when the attacks began."

"What about the cars outside?"

"Batteries got taken out of all of them…during the riots."

Olivia grunted in frustration. Suddenly the two of them heard a strange noise.

"Is it happening again?" asked the doctor.

Olivia went to a nearby window and peaked out. "No…it's them."

The Fringe Division airships were practically flying overhead. Her immediate instinct was to stay low. They were probably searching every town in the direction she was fleeing.

But then the baby started crying…really loudly.

"No!" said Olivia. "Please, be quiet!"

The doctor looked out the window and panicked. "They're glowing! They're all glowing! I haveta get out of here!"

"No! Don't!"

But the doctor in a sudden panic ran out of the clinic and Olivia could hear gunshots.

She grabbed the baby and ran down the hall, desperate for an escape, she found a side exit.

From up above however one of the airships was watching her. She was recognized immediately by her long blonde hair.

"Think you have a good shot, Charlie?"

"I'm not worried about that," he told Lincoln. "I'm just creeped out by how much she looks like our Olivia."

Charlie was ready to take the shot. The Secretary had been impatient about finding and killing Alternate Enemy #1 but then Charlie saw her turn.

"Holy…is that a…?"

"Hell, she's got a kid!"

Charlie lowered his gun and quickly gave the ordered. "This is Francis. All units stand down. Enemy has a vulnerable civilian." He then phoned the Secretary.

"Agent Francis. You have Alternate Enemy #1 on your radar. What's the delay?"

"She's got baby with her, sir. I can't shoot her without hurting it. What do we do?"

There was silence on the receiving end of the phone and then… "Change of plans. Have them captured. We'll bring them in for questioning."

"Alright." Charlie gave the order. "This is Francis. Enemy is to be captured and not harmed. Be advised: she has a child."

Olivia was still running dodging in and out of buildings but it obvious now that she had been spotted by the airships. She had nothing to defend herself as they were shooting at her from above.

There were some men on the ground however that she was able to shoot at with her gun but it was still a great risk. She couldn't fight them off without risking the baby getting hurt.

And then she felt a sting to her back shoulder. She fought against the effects, holding her baby tighter and moving as much as she could. But she finally felt dizzy, and her vision became blurry. She quickly turned to fall on her back so as to cushion the child.

…

Peter managed to get a good amount of hours from the motorbike before it ran out of gas somewhere in Pennsylvania. Every gas station he had passed by the entire was either closed or guarded by the military.

He had his cell phone with him and was shocked to have gotten a bar. Quickly, while he still had any battery power left, he called Rachel.

"Peter?"

"Yes, it's Peter. Please tell me Olivia's there."

The silence on the end confirmed Peter's worse fears. "Olivia left days ago…with the baby. She said she was going back to Boston…Are you there, Peter? I'm losing reception over here…"

And just like that the call ended. He couldn't even so much as get Olivia's phone number from her.

And now here he was walking down the highway in frustration when he caught sight of the looming shadows in the sky.

Airships.

He leapt over the highway and hid in a ditch. But the airships weren't letting up and continued to circle the area. He watched as some fighter jets even zoomed in targeting the airships. One was shot down and fell in a massive ball of flames. But the others were shooting and destroying the fighters with pure ease.

The flames and smoke were getting too close to Peter, who unknowingly wandered into the line of fire.

And then he saw men advancing towards him. He tried to run the other way but it seemed hopeless. He saw as he was running one of airships was slowly lowering itself down. The smoke was too much for Peter to the point that was forced to drop to the ground. And has his eyes were slowly fading in and out he saw the soldiers approaching him. Looking up he saw a familiar well suited man who only called him by one name.

"Son..."


	16. Chapter 16

She didn't know where she was when she started gaining consciousness but judging by the humming sound, Olivia was in a transport. Her ankles were chained but by the grace of God, she looked over and saw that the baby was in a carrier right by her side. It didn't make the situation any better though. Her vision hadn't cleared up completely and she watched the men walking back and forth along the transport. The air was strange and filled with pressure.

After a while, the pressure decreased and Olivia felt the gravity around her as if she was sinking. They were in an airship and it was finally landing.

That's when Charlie came up to her. She knew it wasn't _her_ Charlie. It was theirs. Yet she couldn't help but look at him and let the sad memories of his untimely death come back to haunt her. It was equally awkward for him as the Olivia he knew was safe and comfortable back in his world.

"The Secretary says he wants a word with you. You can take the kid along."

But Olivia was very hesitant and frightful of the idea of her child getting so close to him. What if some kind of reaction came from it? Either way, she couldn't leave the baby alone. So she was allowed to pick him up and she was escorted off the airship and found herself on a massive airfield. She was forced to walk the whole way, with the baby in her arms, until she was taken inside of a big warehouse.

Soon, she found herself sitting with her son in a dark room. The Secretary then entered and the two adults confronted each other with a cold indifferent look. A desk and chair remained as a buffer between the two of them.

"You almost gave me a change of heart…learning that you had a child with you," said the Secretary. "But there is little to convince me that this is even your child at all."

"He's my son."

"You lie. You knew it was only a matter of time before you were caught and you stole him from a dead civilian to play the mercy card. I've seen despicable acts of behavior from people in your world ever since we arrived. You, of all people, to have a child is unlikely and you know it. Who in your universe would even father one with you?"

"That's none of your business!" Olivia hissed.

"Failing to confess to the crime of child kidnapping is below you," the Secretary growled. "I'll see to it that it's added to your list of crimes when we execute you!"

The Secretary was about to walk out the door when…

"It's Peter's!"

He stopped.

"Peter is his father. If you need to do a test to prove it, then do it. He's our son…and I agreed to carry him so he could save both of our worlds!"

The Secretary said nothing and walked out of the room. He informed the guard waiting outside. "Put the execution on hold. I'll need blood and DNA samples from the mother and infant."

While his request was being done, the Secretary went down the hall where Peter was being held.

"I'm disappointed in you, son," he said. "You leave your own mother and father before I even had a chance to explain…"

"I knew enough," said Peter. "You were going to put me in that machine of yours to kill me!"

"Not by choice! Believe me if you had never been taken from us I would've refused such an option immediately. But now here you are…showing loyalty to this universe…and you had to have a child with one of…them…"

Peter looked away from the Secretary. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

"_Your_ Olivia is being held down the hall. She has a child that she claims to be yours. But I will NOT be made a fool of!"

Peter was stunned. "Where is she? Where's my son?"

The Secretary ignored him because a scientist came into the room to whisper a message in the Secretary's ears. His eyes went wide. He looked back at Peter. "So…it's true. You disgust me, Peter. To corrupt our Agent Dunham with such foolish ideas of saving both worlds only to turn around and impregnate the traitor!"

"You're the one who switched them, you bastard!"

"Your Olivia is a deadly weapon that must be destroyed!" The Secretary paused and then said "and as for your son..."

"No…" growled Peter. "You touch either of them, and I swear to God I'll…"

"Enough! You and I both know that the survival of the very world that your mother is in now, lies in the machine."

"But Walter…"

"Your Walter…yes, I've learned everything about your Walter Bishop, the man who abducted you. 17 years in a mental asylum. Cannot even function without you to provide for him. Pathetic! Pathetic that a mad man like him would steal a child and destroy worlds in the process!"

"But he…"

"NO! I will not hear anymore of it! Your Olivia has already created such ridiculous nonsense of that child being capable of healing both worlds but there has been no evidence of it! So now I will give you your ultimatum. Go into the machine, Peter, and I will assure the safety and release of Olivia and your son. Unlike the treacherous man in this world that raised you, I am a man of my word."

"You…"

Walternate ordered the soldiers in the room to pick Peter up. "I will give you time to talk things over with your mistress. 5 minutes!"

They went down the hall to the office where Olivia was held. Peter was shoved in before the door was slammed shut on him. Instinctively, he was facing the door.

"Peter?"

Slowly Peter turned to that familiar voice. For nine whole months he hadn't seen her, but it was almost as if she had only left yesterday.

"Olivia?"

His eyes caught eyes of the little infant in her arms and his world just shook.

* * *

**Probably will write a little more tonight but I thought I'd stop right here just to get on your nerves. :D**


	17. Chapter 17

**Just a disclaimer: the machine in this story is probably nothing like the machine on the actual show. So hopefully no confusion there. **

**Plus I am not responsible for any heart attacks that result from this chap's cliffhanger...just warning ya...**

* * *

At that moment, Olivia sensed a change in the baby…a cross between bliss and peace. Somehow he knew that the man in the room with them was his father. And it felt as if he had been waiting an eternity to finally meet him.

Peter came to them and just wrapped his arms around them both. "Is this real?" he asked, wiping away the tears. "Is he really…?"

"Yes," cried Olivia. With ease, Olivia slid the baby into Peter's arms and the tears of joy just wouldn't stop. Olivia choked up at the sight. "I…I'm so sorry, Peter. I never wanted to take him away from you. You must be so hurt…I…"

"Olivia, they bombed Boston. If you hadn't left with him when you did, who knows what would've…"

"But we're trapped, Peter. We're trapped and it's all my fault!"

Peter placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder. "No, it's not, Olivia. They're the ones who caused all of this from the start. My father won't listen to me. He's making me go into the machine."

"Peter, you can't!"

"It might be your only chance!"

"He'll kill me either way. We both know that!"

"You don't know that, Olivia. If there's any hope that he'll let the both of you live, I have to take it…"

The door finally opened and soldiers came in to collect Peter. As soon as the baby no longer felt his father's presence, he started screeching.

"Peter…"

"Hey…" There wasn't much of a fight that Peter can put up with the men as he was being taken away. "I forgive you, Olivia. You're going to be a wonderful mom."

By the time Olivia reached the door, Peter was gone. And he tried his best to ignore the screaming and crying as the Secretary approached him.

"You've decided, then?"

Peter refused to even look at him. "Let's just get this over with…"

As they walked outside (heading towards another warehouse) the Secretary spoke, "I meant what I said, Peter…that this is not my choice. And the child…I have no intention of harming him. He is my grandson in the end. And there has been enough grief in this family."

They went into another warehouse and Peter looked up at the horrifying mass that lied against the wall.

"There it is," said the Secretary. "This is where it must end for you."

…

Olivia sat in the chair completely broken, unable to cope. The baby continued to cry from emotional pain, Olivia thought. Her eyes widened in realization.

"You…" she looked at the baby. "You took me to the other world. You can do it again, can't you?" She even gave the child a slight nudge. "Come on…please…we could save your daddy!"

And for a moment, it almost looked like the baby was trying. But nothing happened and he started crying again.

"I don't understand. You did it before when…" Olivia dropped her head. "Oh god…you could only do it when you were still in the womb!"

It made perfect sense now. She never had another Other World trip since the baby was born and when none of the doctors saw her leaving in the hospital, it was because the baby was in the process of coming out.

He only had those abilities when he was still connected to her. Now he might as well just be an ordinary baby. Olivia then wondered if she had been the one triggering those trips. _'Not possible,' _she thought. She wasn't strong like her son and she hated it. He started whining. Olivia knew she couldn't let it end like this.

"I'm supposed to be able to do all kinds of things," said Olivia. "Maybe you can help me?"

She held her son close to her bosom and closed her eyes. The only way they could succeed in doing this was through Olivia. She remembered what Walter told her…about imagining a curtain opening. She shut her brain of all the senses until all she could feel was her son. It felt almost exactly as it did when she was in the tank, pregnant with him…it felt as if they were becoming one being.

There was a strong pulse, a tugging that took a hold of both of them. Olivia held onto her son and she could feel the energy that was flowing between them, until she started to feel light.

Everything suddenly dropped and Olivia felt the chair she sat on collapsed.

She was sore. The pieces of the chair now lied on the floor as if they had rotted suddenly. The desk even reeked of a rotting wood and the walls within the room were molded. The door however was left open, now a twisted mass of rusted steel.

Olivia held the baby tightly as she cautiously stepped through the door. She recognized the hallway but it seemed so old and abandoned. As she walked into the darkness, Olivia could've sworn that she heard birds chirping and followed the source of the noise. It led her to sunlight coming from an opened door.

When she stepped out, Olivia no longer recognized the airbase that was there though the ground still had patches of concrete. The area had been consumed by nature…fresh green grass and prairie flowers that couldn't have been more than a few months old. Not too far away, there were rusting old cars and even the skeletal remains of what would've been planes. All of which had vines growing over them. Olivia began walking over to another giant slab of concrete. There was a sign that she recognized…the same sign she saw in the Other World, the one to alert citizens of the toxic air in the area.

But Olivia and the baby were openly breathing the air just fine. A tall mass of weeds even surrounded the sign where it stood.

For a moment she watched the birds fly in and out around her and even saw deer grazing in the young grass.

She smiled.

"It worked…"

She hugged her baby close and just cried. "It really worked. You did it!"

Olivia felt a slight tug and soon the nature was starting to disappear. She knew that they were going back to their world and Olivia need to act quickly. She ran to the concrete slab, which she knew would be the other warehouse. She prayed for the halfway vision to hold and her eyes caught sight of a wall of guns. Quickly, Olivia ran toward it and reached one hand out for the closest gun.

She fell back again but this time into a wall. A man was now on the opposite end of the room looking horrified and confused. This was Olivia's chance. She pointed the gun at the confused guard. "Don't move."

She realized that the gun she had in her hand was really a tranquilizer gun but it would do the job just as well and she quickly fired the gun.

The guard was out. Olivia armed herself. She realized that what she was about to get into would not be pleasant for the baby, so she grabbed some tissue to stuff into his ears as earplugs. "Sorry," she said as the baby was starting to whine from discomfort. Olivia then saw a monitor. Immediately, she recognized Peter and the weapon and she quickly ran out.

Down the hallway, she fired at any soldier that stood in her way. It was hard carrying the baby but at the same time it gave her the advantage as it caused anyone who tried approaching her to be distracted and hesitant.

In a nearby room, the Secretary was with a few of his men in a fireproof booth looking from a glass wall at the machine that Peter was being strapped to. Small metallic tentacles came out and seemed to sense Peter and wrapped its tentacles around Peter's arms.

Just as the Secretary thought, the machine had recognized Peter's unique DNA, the very thing it desired. It wouldn't be long before the machine consumed him.

As the machine was powering up, the alarms started ringing. A steel door came down on the only exit out of the booth, trapping the Secretary and his men in. The Scientists were worried but the Secretary was not. "We'll be fine once the process is complete."

But then no one expected the main doors in the very room to open and Olivia rushing in.

"Olivia!" Peter screamed. "Get out! It's about to happen!"

"No, Peter! Just hang on!"

She put the baby down gently when she saw a large power box. This had to be the thing powering it. She pulled out her gun and kept firing at the box until the lights started flickering and the humming in the room died.

The tentacles that held Peter in placed finally let go and he fell to the ground. Olivia picked up the baby and ran to his side. The Secretary and his men were still trapped in the booth but the Secretary assured them "our generator is still running. The machine will recover on its own. Contact security now!"

Olivia placed a hand on Peter's cheek. "Peter? Peter, are you okay?"

Peter moaned from the pain. He slowly opened his eyes. "Olivia?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Olivia smiled. "Hey, you see this little guy here?" She was referring to the baby in her arms. "He'll kill me if he doesn't have a father to come home to."

Peter laughed. "Walter's not enough, huh?"

She smiled. "No." She reached out a hand and helped pull Peter up. "We better go. They're coming for us."

The humming from the machine started again and then came loud clanking. Peter and Olivia looked in shock as the tentacles came out again and were surveying the nearby humans. Olivia quickly got infront of Peter in an effort to protect him. But she suddenly turned to him and said "We better…"

The tentacles stretched out and went straight for Olivia. A few were grabbing her arm and she screamed. She heard the baby scream, and the tentacles that grabbed Olivia let go…

…and attached themselves to the baby.

A horrified scream hung through the air as all the metallic tentacles wrapped themselves tightly around the child's torso and pulled him into the machine.


	18. Chapter 18

Peter and Olivia hurried over as their son was now stuck to the wall of the machine like a magnet. They dug their fingers desperately into the metallic tentacles to pry them apart, but the tentacles were very tightly stacked together and would not budge. It nearly got to the point where Peter and Olivia's hands were covered in blood.

The baby continued to cry. "Just hang on baby," Olivia cried. "Hang on! We'll get you out!"

The Secretary was watching the scene from inside the booth. "Shut down the generator…NOW!"

One of the scientists informed him "We'd have to access the central generator outside."

"Then access it!"

"We can't do it in lockdown mode."

The Secretary grabbed him by the collar. "You'll find a way to override it!" He was just as desperate as the two parents who were trying to pull at the machine. Then again, he never expected his grandson to be in the same room as the machine. That was never his intention and now he knew that the machine would become unstoppable once it sensed the child's DNA…a very unique DNA that it now desired far more than Peter's.

The machine's humming got louder and now electrical charges traveled through the tentacles burning Peter and Olivia's hands.

"Liv, we have to go!" Peter cried in defeat.

"I'm not leaving him!"

"We have to…" Peter sobbed as he wrapped his arms around Olivia's waist trying to get her away from the machine before it was done powering up.

"NO! NO! LET GO OF ME!" Olivia became hysterical but for good reason and she was to determined to keep a hold on the machine. It was a desperate foolish hope to get to her son. And just like Peter, she was sobbing uncontrollably. "I'M NOT LEAVING HIM!"

The humming got louder and waves of blue energy were slowly forming. Two small tentacles with needle ends found the baby's arms and injected themselves in.

The Secretary tried to remain strong through all of this. Yet something within him finally broke. After having to go through his own grief of losing Peter, he could not bear to lose his grandson as well. He could not leave his only grandchild to die. He grabbed the emergency axe. Even if he broke down the steel door, there would be no time to make it to the main generator. He would have to destroy the power source that stood between the machine and the generator and that was the controls inside the booth. He started chopping at the controls.

"What are you doing?" said one of his men. "You'll kill us all!"

Wires were coming apart rather quickly as Walternate sliced through them but he knew it wasn't going to be enough. He went to the supply cabinet and grabbed all the flammable chemicals he could and threw them all into the damaged controls at once.

From inside the booth, a massive ball of fire erupted followed quickly by an explosion that blew away the walls. Peter and Olivia got down just in time.

Everything in the room was black either from the darkness or smoke. Olivia fought through the smoke and crawled back over to the machine…no longer running and was slowly falling apart. The metallic tentacles slowly unraveled and the baby slid out.

Peter jumped out just in time to catch him.

Olivia grabbed onto Peter as they made their way toward the nearest exit. When they finally got out to fresh air, Peter and Olivia were coated in ash.

"Peter?"

They looked over at their baby. He had extensive burns that covered his arms and dried patches of red and brown all over his delicate skin. Much like his parents, he was also cover in ash…

…and he wasn't breathing.

Peter laid him down on the ground and attempted to give him CPR.

"Come on. Breathe!"

But Olivia was already crying, giving in to the inevitable. Peter continued to press his fingers into his son's chest.

"COME ON!"

With every push it got hard and harder for Peter to control himself as tears were falling onto the baby.

They were unaware at that moment that a military group had arrived and with the surviving Fringe Division people distracted from the explosion, the U.S. Army was finally able to capture them.

"SOMEONE HELP!"

A military doctor finally heard the call. "Please," Peter pleaded. "Get him to a hospital!"

There was little time to spare as Peter and Olivia got into the ambulance with their child and headed for the nearest hospital under military supervision. Olivia collapsed at the entryway as her son was already sped down the hall. Peter stayed with Olivia.

"Liv…"

She wasn't saying anything. Peter led her to a chair. "Sit down. I'm gonna see if I can call Broyles."

It took about an hour but Peter was able to contact Broyles at Massive Dynamic and informed him of everything that happened. He could hear Broyle's sigh on the other end. "And how is Agent Dunham doing?"

"No, better than me," said Peter. Broyles then put him on hold. "Peter…we'll arrange a safe medical transport for you and your family to come here as soon as we can get clearance. If what you say is true and the Secretary is dead, it'll still be a while before the airships start clearing out."

"I know," said Peter. He smiled a little when Broyles referred to Olivia and the baby as his family. It was so unexpected and yet it felt so perfect.

"There's someone who wants to talk to you…" There was scuffling on the other end. "…Peter? Son?"

"Hello, Walter."

"You're alive?"

"Yes, Walter. I'm alive."

"And my grandson? Is he…?"

"I don't know, Walter." Peter broke down. "I'm scared…"

"I'm here for you, son. I…already know how it feels."

"I know," said Peter. When the call was over, a doctor was finally able to inform them that their son was in the ICU. And soon, the baby was lying in a hospital bassinet with breathing tubes up his nose. He looked too still, despite having faint signs of a heartbeat, and his soft newborn skin had been replaced by horrendous scabbing and burnt spots all over.

The doctors informed the parents that he had a survival rate of about 26%.

After being checked for injuries, Olivia sat by her son's side. Even when nurses came in to check on the baby, she refused to move.

"Liv, they cleared a transport for us."

She didn't say anything to Peter. She was feeling numb all over. There was hesitancy when it was time to prepare to move the baby. Olivia had been this close to putting up a fight with the doctors. But Peter pulled her into his arms. "It's gonna be okay, Olivia. It's going to be fine." He had to help Olivia the whole way to the helicopter and she became more calm as she got to sit by her son again. It was still difficult to see the damage though, to know that her baby was in terrible pain.

During the whole flight, they were stunned to see the roads filling up with tanks as the people of their world began taking back the cities. New York was still in one piece but there were abandoned cars blocking numerous streets. But their helicopter was able to safely land on the roof of Massive Dynamic bypassing all of that.

They were all there to greet them: Broyles, Nina, Astrid and Walter. The baby was wheeled out of the helicopter first and was taking straight to the labs. Peter and Olivia came out next. For Olivia it was almost surreal. She hadn't seen any of these people for months but they greeted her with such sympathy and understanding it made her almost forget that they all worked together.

The baby's chances were better here, with Walter and Nina overseeing the efforts of doctors who knew better the kind of damage that the baby had endured through the machine.

"That machine was designed to absorb the life of a full-grown human," Walter explained to Olivia. "If my grandson had stayed connected to that machine for a second longer he would've been…"

"Walter…please." Olivia turned away from him coldly. "Don't even talk like that. He's not dead yet. He's…"

But seeing that she was reaching her breaking point, Olivia ran down the hall as far away from where her son was being treated as possible. But Peter managed to find her. "Olivia?"

But she said nothing. Peter came to her with open arms and she sobbed again. It felt good to have Peter here. It felt wonderful to be with him again but this was not how she had imagined it. She still felt terrible about keeping the baby from Peter and now if he didn't make it, Olivia knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

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**Tomorrow's update will likely be the final chapter of this story and the baby will finally have a name! **


	19. Chapter 19

**The end! And man, was I crying when I wrote the final paragraphs! Well I gotta get the thanks out of the way cuz I am floored. I like to thank all my readers and reviewers especially for making this my 2nd Fringe fic to break the 100 review mark. Astounding! This has not only been a dramatic story to write but great brain exercise for me. I can't say enough how awesome it's been to write this and meet the deadline. Thank you all so very much and feel free to check out my other works. If it were up to me, I'd keep writing forever but we'll just haveta wait and see.

* * *

**

Although the baby's chances of survival were improving, (thanks to Massive Dynamic's team) it didn't make Olivia feel anymore hopeful or better about the situation.

Now there he was, lying in a bassinet that looked more like a fish-tank. He needed a machine to filter out the toxic air that got into his lungs and white patches consumed his tiny body to treat all the damaged skin.

Nina led Olivia to a room that almost looked like a nursery. "I think this will be a fitting room for your son's recovery," Nina said. "And you'll be in charge of everything. We won't bother you unless you need us."

"Thanks," said Olivia. She did notice on unusual thing about the room. There was a large bed sitting by the bassinet. "You brought a bed in here?"

"Yes," she said. "I believe that your 'special' bond with your son could work to our advantage in helping him heal. The closer you're with him, the better. Give it a chance and you'll see what I mean."

Olivia went over to the bed and got the baby from the bassinet. She was careful not to pull out the cords and patches that were all over his body as she placed him in her arms. She tried to feed him, but it only made her son upset as she tried to support him. No matter what Olivia did, her little boy was still in pain.

"Olivia? You in here?"

Nina was gone and standing at the door was Peter. "Come in."

Peter went over and sat down by the edge of the bed where Olivia laid. He became worried as his son was crying uncontrollably. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's just in pain," said Olivia. "I'm trying to get him to eat but he can't help it."

"May I?" said Peter. He knew it was a terrible risk, but he crawled over and laid in the bed by Olivia's side. With both hands he helped in supporting the baby's weakened posture so Olivia could focus on getting him fed. "Um…maybe we should encourage him?" he asked.

"Come on," Olivia said to her son. "You must be starving."

And he was. The baby was crying less and now was pouting his lips together to get a feed. It was a miracle. Despite all the pain his poor body had endured, the baby was able to latch onto Olivia like normal…almost as if he wasn't in pain at all.

"He's breathing Peter," Olivia wiped a tear from her face. "He's breathing normally. I can feel it."

Peter smiled. "Well, I'm not surprised. He's part Dunham. That makes him a real fighter. It won't be long before we can take him home."

They looked up at each other and Peter realized his mistake by saying 'we'. After everything that's happened, they had practically forgotten all the terrible circumstances that led them here. And now Peter was feeling like an idiot for sitting on this bed with Olivia and having just help her breastfeed.

"Maybe I should go. We can talk later about what we're going to do, about…you know…"

"It's okay."

But when Peter tried to get up, the baby must've sensed him leaving because he started crying again as if he was in terrible pain. "Oh no," said Olivia. "No don't cry."

"What do we do?" Peter hurried back to the bed and the baby seemed to magically calm down. For a moment, the parents just sat there completely dumbfounded. Peter laughed. "I don't think he's going to let either of us get away that easy."

"You know, when I was pregnant with him…" said Olivia. "I went to see this woman. She put me in a tank just like the one in the lab…."

"Wonderful."

"I know," laughed Olivia. "But it was something I had to do in order to help him form the link. I had to give him a vision of both worlds being good. It was so hard because I couldn't think of anything nice about the other side...but then I thought of you. I showed him who his daddy was. That's when he started taking me on trips to the other side. It makes sense now," she said. "The reason he kept pulling me over there was because he was trying to look for you."

"You think you could use that ability of yours to help him?"

"I don't know," said Olivia. "I don't think I can help him heal as much. But you…he loves you so much he pulled me to the other side to look for you. You can help ease his pain, Peter."

"I would love that very much," he said.

The baby had fallen asleep on Olivia's chest. It felt so wonderful to see this little body breathing beneath all of that burnt skin. It wouldn't be long before he would no longer need those air support tubes.

"He loves you too, Olivia. Look at him."

Olivia smiled. Here in her arms was her little version of Peter. Much like the real Peter got her through her ordeal on the other side, this little version got her through her ordeal to make it back to his father.

As soon as the baby was asleep, Peter said "He's just had a very rough first week in the world. I should be able to leave you two alone now."

But Olivia stopped.

"Stay Peter," she quietly pleaded. "It helps him. It helps me."

"Okay." He sat back on the bed and watched Olivia as she started to get sleepy. He leaned over to give his son a kiss on the forehead and then he grabbed a blanket to place over his newly formed family. Olivia leaned her head in resting on Peter's shoulders and eventually Peter himself finally succumbed to sleep.

…

For the next few months that room became Peter and Olivia's home and sanctuary as they soon discovered the more time they spent with their son, the more lively he was. Beyond all those blisters and breathing tubes was a child happy to have his parents constantly holding him and caring for him around the clock. It was if the child had a greater will to survive.

As for the world outside, recovery was slow but manageable. Nina was in charge of insuring that the captured alternates were able to return to their world without any further harm and was also in charge of covering up the real incentive behind the attack. (Who on earth would believe the truth anyway?)

When the Secretary died in the explosion, so too did the legacy of hate and vengeance that he carried. More and more people could finally see that their reality really was healing. The air was no longer toxic where it once was and Fringe events died out. The people who were amber could finally be freed and treated.

The Agent Dunham of their world rose to the rank of Secretary of Defense (now a position more of peace than war) and formed a truce that would allow the two worlds to help each other. Massive Dynamic brought vaccines for small pox that cured the sick in the other world, while they in turn brought supplies to help the victims of their wrongfully intentioned attack.

They heard, in the other world, the circumstances that fell upon the child to healed both worlds and doctors were sent back to help. They procured a way to heal some of the damage in the baby's inner organs and even heal as much of the damage skin as they could.

He wasn't perfect. But it didn't matter to Peter or Olivia. Their son was always going to be perfect in their eyes.

"Here they are!"

"Walter! Could you move…or at least help with our stuff?"

But Walter wouldn't budge and continued to shove the camera in Peter's face. "But then who will hold the camera? I want this to be a perfect recording of my grandson's first day home."

"Get out of the way," said Peter. "Astrid!"

"Walter, gimme the camera." Walter pouted but eventually gave Astrid the camera while he helped bring the bags of medical supplies in. They were followed by Olivia who was carrying the baby. "Here we are," said Olivia. "This is your home."

And in a rare surprise, the baby was slowly opening his eyes.

"So what are the sleeping arrangements for Agent Dunham?" said Walter. "Hopefully nothing inappropriate or too awkward."

"It's fine, Walter," Peter assured him. "Olivia and the baby can sleep in my room with me."

At that moment, Walter gave his son an unusual look. "Stop yanking my chain, boy. I haven't taken any drugs!"

"What? I'm not trying to mess with you Walter. Olivia and I have come to agree that this might be the best thing for our baby. No matter how awkward it might get."

"Are you getting this, Astridge?" asked Walter.

"Every word." She said.

Peter pleaded with his father to leave his family alone and he and Olivia went upstairs. Peter had already cleared some space to make room for the both Olivia and the baby's stuff. They crawled into bed with the baby sleeping inbetween them.

"I honestly never imagined it would come to this," said Olivia.

"Neither did I," said Peter.

"Do you really think we could make this work?"

"I think we just have to take it one day at a time. Besides, it's not about us. It's about him."

"You know, I still can't believe we haven't named him yet."

"Names are hard."

"But I wanted you to name him. He's your son, Peter."

"He's yours too."

Olivia looked up at the ceiling from her side of the bed. She laughed to herself. "I know it's stupid but I was thinking of the name 'Timmy'."

"Timmy? Olivia, that's perfect. He does look like a Timmy."

She turned back to face Peter. "Okay, but you should come up with a middle name."

Peter pondered on it for a moment. "How about Robert, after my grandfather."

Olivia smiled. Walter was going to be thrilled with that name.

"See," said Peter. "That wasn't so hard, was it? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this work, Olivia. No matter what happens. I just hope that you feel the same."

She leaned over to give Peter a kiss on the lips. "I do, Peter."

…

**3 Years Later**

The lab was decked out in all its glory for Timmy's 3rd birthday and everyone was there: Rachel and Ella, and even Broyles and Nina had dropped by.

The big talk of the party was Gene. Walter had dyed Gene's hide with blue, yellow, and red spots.

"That can't be good for the cow, Walter," said Astrid.

"Nonsense!" said Walter. "If Gene can survive an blimp attack without a scratch he can certainly withstand these toxic dyes I have given him!"

When Olivia and Peter arrived with little Timmy that was when the party really began. Even today, the little boy still had blotches of dark pink skin on his bodies as if he had a bad sunburn, but he was still as feisty and filled with wonder as any child his age would be.

And everyone was wishing Timmy a Happy Timmy Day. This made him a bit upset.

"But daddy, I want it to be my birthday!"

"It is your birthday, sweetheart," said Olivia. "But there's a reason we like call it Timmy Day."

"Why Timmy Day, mommy?"

"I'll tell him," said Peter. "Because somewhere out there. There's a world where people think you're a really special person…and they wanted to make a special holiday to have every year just to think about you."

Timmy was still confused. "But that's my birthday!"

Peter laughed. "It's that, too."

"Peter, can we have Timmy Day cake now?"

"In a minute, Walter."

"Don't I still get presents?"

"Of course you do," said Olivia.

"Then I like Timmy Day then."

Everyone laughed and continued to enjoy the party. Peter came up from behind Olivia and presented her with a small nicely wrapped present.

"What is this Peter?"

"Your Timmy Day present," he said. He kissed her. "Come on, open it."

"Well it's to big to be a ring," she said waving her right hand. "I already have a nice one from you."

She opened the present the present and was stunned to find a stunning diamond necklace with a purple stone in the center. "Peter…"

She couldn't say anymore and just kissed him.

"Happy Timmy Day," she said smiling.

"Happy Timmy Day."

Timmy's birthday was a day they have come to treat as special and meaningful to them as Valentine's Day and even more than their wedding anniversary. To them it was a day when they were finally brought together emotionally and were finally able to heal from all the old wounds of their past.

But they weren't alone. For you see, Timmy Day wasn't just a fun approach for the Bishop family to celebrate Timmy's birthday…

…it really was a national holiday…in the other world that is.

Because the other world had owed a great debt to this little boy that they could never repay…even if they did lend a hand in helping him recover or was pretty much responsible for saving his life…Timothy Robert Bishop brought more meaning to their world, than any world figure to have ever existed. In a non-religious way, Timmy Day became more popular with Americans than Christmas. Everyone devoted the holiday to treating each other with good cheer, set their grievances aside, and made peace with one another. The holiday was sometimes dubbed "a day of healing."

Still a lot of people don't believe that Timmy ever existed but was rather a character created as a metaphor to represent the holiday. But to everyone who worked in the Fringe Division, who went to the other side for the attacks, they all knew the legacy that Timmy created and would share that message with everyone. Their world was never going to forget that in another a little boy named Timmy was born and brought two broken worlds together…for good.

**THE END**


End file.
